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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. How often did the narrator and his lover make love during their time together?

2. What does the narrator say he kept dreaming about while with his lover?

3. How much does the narrator calculate his love making cost?

4. What does the narrator note about his lover as he looks at her in bed when he first wakes?

5. What else did the narrator see in his dreams beyond the dark frame of empty space?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the feelings about the narrator's affair linger after it ends at first?

2. After including the entire day he and his lover spend together and all the bits that add up, how much does he say he has spent per hour?

3. Why does the narrator choose not to kiss his lover's eyelids as he wants to while he watches her sleep?

4. The narrator describes a moment in bed when his lover talked nonstop late into the night, her mouth close to his ear. How did he feel during that time?

5. Describe the narrators dream, which he has lying beside his lover.

6. What type of questions does the narrator say he begins to ask himself after "the pictures start to go" (25) of his time with his lover?

7. What is the narrator trying to break down at the start of the story?

8. What are the feelings the narrator experiences when he starts to lose the feeling of being with his lover?

9. What surprising question did the narrator's lover ask him in bed one day? How did he respond? What did she think of his response?

10. Based on what the narrator says he spent in the first few paragraphs, what did he and his lover do during their trip?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay describing the imagery used in "Break it Down." Indicate examples of imagery in the text and identify possible meanings.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay exploring how the story would change if written from the lover's point of view. What information might be gained or lost? How might the story's themes change?

Essay Topic 3

Though there is no direct dialogue in "Break it Down," the narrator reflects on two conversations between himself and his lover. What were these conversions? What significance do they hold? Why might the author have chosen to include these?

(see the answer keys)

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