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

2. 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) Evolution Days.
(d) Natural Days.

3. Alex cautions the unnamed narrator in Part Three not to write about what kinds of issues?
(a) Medical issues.
(b) Law issues.
(c) Existential issues.
(d) Financial issues.

4. The unnamed narrator compares the experience of looking at Judd's works with the experience of looking at what other object?
(a) The Grand Canyon.
(b) Stonehenge.
(c) The third eye.
(d) The Holy Grail.

5. The unnamed narrator states in Part Three that he had been talking about his "performance anxiety with Jon and Sharon and Alena" (89) for how many weeks prior to his appointment to give a semen sample?
(a) 2.
(b) 4.
(c) 10.
(d) 6.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. About what subject does the unnamed narrator pontificate when the intern begs him to speak aloud?

4. From what type of establishment does the unnamed narrator buy his groceries throughout his residency in Texas?

5. To whose apartment does the unnamed narrator go after he leaves the literary dinner in Part Three?

Short Essay Questions

1. The unnamed narrator finds himself working diligently in Texas, but "on the wrong thing" (170). What other piece does he work on instead?

2. What mistake does the intern make in Part Four and what similar mistake does the unnamed narrator make?

3. What distinction does the unnamed narrator make between his requirements for reading conditions and his requirements for writing conditions?

4. Discuss an instance when Lerner includes an allusion to one of his own literary works.

5. 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?

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

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

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

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

10. How does the unnamed narrator meet Noor?

(see the answer keys)

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