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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is noted about the fruit bowl in “Fruit Bowl”?

2. According to the narrator in “Huaraz,” what "has effects no-one can calculate in advance"?

3. How is the weather described when Geryon wakes in the night in “Water”?

4. What is Herakles said to smell of in “Kiss”?

5. What day of the week is described in the opening of “Roof”?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about the name of the volcano that Geryon goes to visit with Ancash, his mother, and Herakles?

2. How do the soldiers describe the volcano in “Photographs: I Am A Beast”?

3. What does Geryon's photograph represent in “Distances”?

4. Who is Ancash? How is this character introduced?

5. What memories come to Geryon in “Tango”?

6. How is the setting described in “Huaraz”?

7. What is significant about Ancash's legend of his people in “Eyewitnesses”?

8. What is significant about Geryon's job in "Freedom"?

9. What does the term “Mitwelt” refer to in this poem?

10. What is significant about the reference to Helen in “Interview (Stesichoros)”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the encounter between Geryon and the centaur. What do you think is foreshadowed by this encounter? How is the centaur described? What do you think the centaur represents metaphorically in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the motif of the color red that appears throughout the novel. What does this color represent to Geryon and the other characters in the story? What does red represent to you? What themes does the color connect to in Autobiography of Red?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the themes of identity and the "Other" in Autobiography of Red. How are these themes developed through character, setting, and action? How does the author support these themes through symbolism and imagery?

(see the answer keys)

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