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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. From context, which is a reasonable interpretation of the simile "They had separate rooms, like staterooms, like passengers on a fading boat" (36)?
(a) Brenda, Frank, and Alan no longer enjoy each other's company.
(b) Europe is a boring place to visit.
(c) Europe is a snobby and elitist place.
(d) Brenda, Frank, and Alan are getting older.

2. What is the narrator implying about Brenda's discussion of her children with the comment "The first act was over.... Now came the plot" (37)?
(a) Brenda is not being honest about what great kids her daughters are.
(b) Brenda was just using the discussion of her children to introduce her real objective.
(c) Brenda is no longer interested in her children--they are part of a past she wants to leave behind.
(d) Brenda has something she is afraid to tell Frank and is killing time by talking about her children.

3. In Padua, where does Alan go for a walk by himself in the early morning?
(a) The market.
(b) Along the river.
(c) A museum.
(d) The grounds of a church.

4. Where did Frank take Alan and Brenda in Paris?
(a) A cabaret.
(b) A museum.
(c) The ballet.
(d) The opera.

5. Which detail conveys Frank's continued attractiveness to women despite his age?
(a) The comments of the border guards as they cross into Como.
(b) The comments of the employees at the coffee place in Como.
(c) The behavior of the Italian countesses in Venice.
(d) The behavior of the German hotel manager's girlfriend.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why are most of the things that they see while window shopping in Florence unsuitable for Eda?

2. How does Frank feel when he smells leaf smoke on the way to Florence?

3. What does Eda's father do for a living?

4. What is Alan's life being compared to in the sentence, "It seemed that his life was being clarified, the sediment was drifting down" (39)?

5. In the restaurant in Spoleto, what is Frank distracted by?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where do Frank and Alan take Eda, and what does Frank buy her there?

2. In the hotel bar in Spoleto, what does Alan tell Frank about Europe, and what is Frank's response?

3. What does Brenda suggest to Frank about New York, and what is it implied that she is hinting about?

4. What does the narrative imply happens between Alan and Eda on the night before the story ends, and what is Alan's reaction to it in the morning?

5. What does Frank decide not to tell Alan about his conversation with Eda, and why?

6. In the story's closing paragraphs, what is Alan thinking about, and why?

7. Whom do Frank and Alan meet in Arezzo, and how do they meet her?

8. What has happened in Brenda's life since she and Frank broke up?

9. When Frank and Alan are leaving a Spoleto restaurant with Eda between them, what does the clerk say, and what is his meaning?

10. What do Frank and Brenda fight about when it is time for her to leave Italy, and how does Alan become involved in the argument?

(see the answer keys)

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