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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 does the narrator say is all that is left of the relationship after the pictures and questions go away?

2. As the narrator was leaving they stood close together looking at what?

3. The narrator describes staring at the impending pain from an affair in a window and saying what?

4. Why does the narrator think he could not let himself fall completely in love with his lover?

5. Why does the narrator say he felt he had to tell his lover that he loved her?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe what happens when you look at the pain as if "in an open box, in a window somewhere" (29)?

2. After adding up the time spent thinking of his lover after the affair has ended, how much does the narrator calculate he has spent?

3. What did the narrator's lover give him before he left? Describe it.

4. The narrator says sometimes he feels like a prince or a king. What contrasting emotion does he feel?

5. What does the narrator see as he walks away from his lover at the end of their trip?

6. What types of things does the narrator say bring back to the memory of his lover just as he thinks he is over the pain?

7. The narrator says he may have only been half falling in love. Why?

8. In the final paragraph, what does the narrator question regarding his affair?

9. What does the narrator do to try to numb the "large heavy pain" (26) he is left with once the pictures fade?

10. How does the narrator say he was beginning to feel when he was getting ready to say goodbye?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Examine how memory plays a part in the plot of "Break it Down."

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the author of "Break it Down." Who is she? What else has she written? How is "Break it Down" similar or different from her previous works?

(see the answer keys)

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