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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many years before narrative present did Noor's father die of a heart attack?
(a) 19.
(b) 12.
(c) 5.
(d) 3.

2. How many minutes of the unnamed narrator's shift at the co-op passes during Noor's story?
(a) 45.
(b) 90.
(c) 30.
(d) 60.

3. The unnamed narrator tells the distinguished female author at dinner that which of his body fluids is "abnormal" (121)?
(a) Urine.
(b) Blood.
(c) Semen.
(d) Saliva.

4. In what year did the tragedy discussed by the unnamed narrator at the literary event occur?
(a) 1992.
(b) 1980.
(c) 1986.
(d) 1991.

5. The unnamed narrator's residency house is located across the street from which poet's former home?
(a) Mark Strand.
(b) Robert Frost.
(c) Robert Creeley.
(d) Seamus Heaney.

6. To whose apartment does the unnamed narrator go after he leaves the literary dinner in Part Three?
(a) Alena.
(b) Jon.
(c) Sharon.
(d) Alex.

7. What does the unnamed narrator describe in his comments at Columbia's School of Arts as the "shadow language to Reagan's official narrative processing of the national tragedy" (114)?
(a) My Lai jokes.
(b) Oklahoma City bombing jokes.
(c) Challenger jokes.
(d) Iran Contra jokes.

8. The distinguished female author tells the unnamed narrator that when she was in the first grade, she openly laughed when given the news that which person had died?
(a) Her teacher's daughter.
(b) Her teacher.
(c) Her teacher's son.
(d) Her sister.

9. Alex tells the unnamed narrator to remember that he had felt responsible for his mother's diagnosis of what malady?
(a) Heart disease.
(b) Cancer.
(c) Tuberculosis.
(d) Shingles.

10. In what field does Alena's friend Peter work?
(a) Accounting.
(b) Marketing.
(c) Literature.
(d) Art.

11. When the unnamed narrator feels "too tired to write" (173) one day during his residency he watches The Passion of Joan of Arc, the favorite film of which character?
(a) Sharon.
(b) Alex.
(c) Natali.
(d) Alena.

12. How do Alena and Peter react to the unnamed narrator's response to the art in Alena's apartment?
(a) They cry.
(b) They whisper.
(c) They shriek.
(d) They laugh.

13. One morning, the unnamed narrator wakes up to find that what noisy activity is going on nearby?
(a) Roof work.
(b) Pressure washing.
(c) Yard work.
(d) Street hockey.

14. The unnamed narrator must leave in the middle of Noor's story one day during their shift to check if which item is in stock?
(a) Dried mangoes.
(b) Prunes.
(c) Artichokes.
(d) Figs.

15. For what purpose does the unnamed narrator choose the particular book he brings along on the residency?
(a) To use it as a model for his own book.
(b) For a teaching assignment.
(c) To get it signed.
(d) To remind him why he loves writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the unnamed narrator attending the private showing of a particular artist's works, he says, "The works felt first and foremost like a" (179) what?

2. How many lines of what turns out to be ketamine does the unnamed narrator do at the party in Part Four?

3. The distinguished female author and the unnamed narrator both order what dish?

4. To what hospital does the unnamed narrator go at the beginning of Part Three?

5. The pills used to treat the unnamed narrator's heart condition "have the paradoxical effect of causing a minor tremor in" (163) what part of his body?

(see the answer keys)

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