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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) To remind him why he loves writing.
(c) To get it signed.
(d) For a teaching assignment.

2. The only book the unnamed narrator brings to the residency is a book belonging to which genre?
(a) Autobiography.
(b) Poetry.
(c) Mystery.
(d) Science Fiction.

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

4. 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) Artichokes.
(b) Prunes.
(c) Dried mangoes.
(d) Figs.

5. What is NOT a source to which people have ascribed "the Marfa Lights," though scientists claim they are "atmospheric reflections" (192)?
(a) Drones.
(b) Ignis fatuus.
(c) Ghosts.
(d) UFOs.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. The unnamed narrator states in Part Four that he must have absolute quiet to engage in which activity?

3. What form of communication does the unnamed narrator use to communicate with Alena during his residency?

4. 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?

5. To what type of restaurant did Noor's mother take her to tell her the identity of her biological father?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way does the unnamed narrator set up a dichotomy between the art of the "readymade" (133) and the totaled art in Alena's institute?

2. Name three excuses the unnamed narrator uses when people ask to see him during his writers' residency.

3. How does Lerner use irony to portray the scene of the party depicted in Part Four?

4. How does the unnamed narrator's usual routine change during his writers' residency?

5. For what purpose does the unnamed narrator visit the seventh floor of New-York Presbyterian Hospital at the beginning of Part Three?

6. How does the theme of fatherhood enter the narrative in Part Four?

7. Why does Alex caution the unnamed narrator not to write about medical issues and what evidence does she use for her argument?

8. What is the only low point in the adventure Roberto and the unnamed narrator go on together in Part Three?

9. How does the unnamed narrator react to holding the Jeff Koons balloon dog sculpture in Part Three and how do Alena and Peter react to his reaction?

10. What are the consequences of the mistake the intern makes in Part Four?

(see the answer keys)

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