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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Of what material was Bruce Bechtel's tombstone made?
(a) Fieldstone.
(b) Marble.
(c) Bronze.
(d) Granite.

2. Where is the home where Alison Bechdel grew up?
(a) Mapleton, MA.
(b) Beech Creek, PA.
(c) Brigdon, NY.
(d) New Hope, PA.

3. The title of Chapter 2: "A Happy Death," alludes to a novel written by what author?
(a) Ernest Hemingway.
(b) Albert Camus.
(c) James Joyce.
(d) F. Scott Fitzgerald.

4. What does the word "qualmish" mean in Chapter 3?
(a) Insistent.
(b) Gregarious.
(c) Worried.
(d) Nauseated.

5. Who is the author of the novel Maurice that is alluded to in Chapter 3?
(a) Emily Dickinson.
(b) Radclyffe Hall.
(c) E. M. Forster.
(d) James Joyce.

6. What does the author claim was her father's passion but not his job in Chapter 1?
(a) Drinking Scotch.
(b) Cooking.
(c) Historical restoration.
(d) Clothing design.

7. Who is the "cultured, dissipated, and penniless European art collector" that the heroine marries in The Portrait of a Lady?
(a) James Fletcher.
(b) William Anderson.
(c) Morris Townsend.
(d) Gilbet Osmond.

8. Of her father, the author writes in Chapter 1, "... my brothers and I were free labor. Dad considered us extensions of his own body, like" what?
(a) "Hairy fingertips."
(b) "Gilded wings."
(c) "Precision robot arms."
(d) "Enslaved legs and arms."

9. The author says in Chapter 1 that being raised by her father was not like being raised by Jimmy Stewart but by whom?
(a) Amanda Stewart.
(b) Bette Davis.
(c) Donna Reed.
(d) Martha Stewart.

10. What was the name of Bruce Bechdel's brother?
(a) Ed.
(b) Tim.
(c) Roger.
(d) Jack.

11. In what year did Bruce Bechdel die?
(a) 1991.
(b) 1975.
(c) 1980.
(d) 1977.

12. Consider the following sentence from Chapter 1: "His shame inhabited our house as pervasively and invisibly as the aromatic must of aging mahogany." What literary device is used in this sentence?
(a) Literary allusion.
(b) Simile.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Onomatopoeia.

13. Who is the heroine in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady?
(a) Marie Antoinette.
(b) Emily Wharton.
(c) Edna Waldrop.
(d) Isabel Archer.

14. Who is the "smooth-talking fortune hunter" in The Heiress that the author describes in Chapter 3?
(a) Edgar Spency.
(b) Morris Townsend.
(c) William James.
(d) James Waldrop.

15. Into what war was Bruce Bechdel drafted?
(a) World War I.
(b) The Vietnam War.
(c) World War II.
(d) The Korean War.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the author describe her father's headstone in Chapter 2?

2. What does the author describe her father rinsing her with in the bathtub as a child in Chapter 1?

3. From what children's book does the author's father's read to her in the bedtime panel in Chapter 1?

4. What word from Chapter 1 refers to skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks?

5. What childhood fictional character does Joan describe as "a total imperialist" in the panel from page 80?

(see the answer keys)

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