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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 pain medication is their mother taking?

2. Who is waiting at the narrator's apartment when he comes back from lunch?

3. For what event has the narrator obtained an invitation?

4. Where does the narrator wake up in the morning?

5. What name does the narrator give to the greeter?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the narrator's reaction when he sees his brother waiting on the stoop?

2. Why is it ironic that the narrator snorts cocaine behind the library?

3. Explain Vicky's concept of "ineffability."

4. What does the narrator remember the most about Amanda, though he cannot remember what she looks like?

5. What does Michael theorize may have spurred the narrator to marry Amanda?

6. Why does the narrator call Vicky after the party?

7. Why is the narrator unsettled by the absence of Amanda's mannequin?

8. Why does the narrator opt to take Megan's valium?

9. Why does Michael say he never liked Amanda?

10. What kind of relationship did the narrator have with his mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the narrator and his mother.

1) Why does Michael resent that the narrator came only days before their mother died? Why did the narrator stay away so long?

2) What does the narrator's mother reveal to him on her deathbed? How does this experience affect the narrator?

3) Why does the narrator think he has reacted so badly to Amanda's leaving?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the narrator's plan to crash the fashion show.

1) Why has be decided to make a spectacle of himself in such a way?

2) How does he think Amanda will react to his presence?

3) What makes him uncomfortable about the fashion show, other than his planned interruption?

Essay Topic 3

Explain Vicky's concept of "ineffability." How is this concept appropriate for the narrator's view of his life and the people in it? How is Vicky an appropriate mate for the narrator, whereas Amanda was not?

(see the answer keys)

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