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

2. What does the narrator do to try to ease some of the feelings leftover from the affair?

3. How was the narrator beginning to feel the day he had to leave?

4. What was significant about the night the narrator told his lover that he loved her?

5. How does the narrator describe how his impending pain looks in an open box in a window?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was the second bad time the narrator says he and his lover had?

3. In what way is the pain from the affair worse than the pleasure?

4. How long after the affair does the narrator think his time thinking of her is reduced to about and hour or two a day?

5. 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?

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

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

8. The narrator says he would do it again. Why? Was the pleasure greater than the pain?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a brief essay analyzing the the title "Break it Down." Explore the ways in which this title connects to the themes of the story.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing narrative voice in Davis of "Break it Down." Include thoughts on how the narrative voice of the story is effective in conveying the story’s themes.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Davis's decision to tell the story using alternating point-of-view from the narrator's perspective. How does this impact the reader's understanding of the story's events? Is this effective? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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