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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. 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.

2. What task is the unnamed narrator supposed to be working on during the residency?
(a) Expanding his short story into a novel.
(b) Expanding his novel into a series.
(c) Expanding his book of poetry into a novel.
(d) Collapsing his novel into a short story.

3. How many hours does it take for Michael to drive the unnamed narrator from the airport to his residency house?
(a) 3.
(b) 5.
(c) 2.
(d) 1.

4. 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?
(a) Breath of fresh air.
(b) Celebration.
(c) Memorial.
(d) Travesty.

5. What is the name of the single book the unnamed narrator brings along with him for his residency in Texas?
(a) Creosote Days.
(b) Specimen Days.
(c) Natural Days.
(d) Evolution Days.

Short Answer Questions

1. During the unnamed narrator's residency, he must have what objects mailed to his temporary address in Texas?

2. What word does the unnamed narrator use to describe Alena's fourth-floor apartment?

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

4. Noor tells the unnamed narrator that her late father had shared a "strong sense" of what kind of "identity" (99) with her?

5. At what time of day does the unnamed narrator reach his residency house in Texas?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the unnamed narrator end up at a party in Part Four?

2. For what reason does the unnamed narrator travel to Texas in Part Four?

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

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

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

6. What is "totaled art" (130) and how had Alena acquired some of it prior to the novel's opening?

7. What aspect of Walt Whitman's strange autobiography Specimen Days disgusts the unnamed narrator and why?

8. What object does the unnamed narrator keep patting inside his pocket as he makes his way to the seventh floor of New-York Presbyterian Hospital?

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

10. What is the unnamed narrator's specific reason for feeling the way he does about the totaled art?

(see the answer keys)

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