Basic C++ problems

How would you store the text? What data type do you use that it doesn't involve arrays or pointers?

I think you're thinking beyond his scope. If he's using strings it's probably for something simple, like storing a word into a variable with cin and printing the same thing out later with cout. I don't think you can do more than that without treating them like arrays of characters, which he obviously isn't doing if he's not doing arrays.