View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Styron's publisher have to reschedule a photo session?
(a) Styron refused to come out of his room.
(b) Styron had only smiled in a few pictures but still looked as if in despair.
(c) Styron had left to go to Paris.
(d) Styron was in the hospital.

2. Styron dates the onset of his deep depression to what event?
(a) His inability to drink alcohol.
(b) His wife's leaving him.
(c) The death of several of his friends.
(d) His chilren all leaving home.

3. In addition to anxiety, what other characteristic of depression becomes manifest?
(a) Deep, dark imaginings.
(b) An inability to be still, constantly moving.
(c) Incessant talking.
(d) Argumentative with family and friends.

4. From Job to Styron's day, he says artists and writers have been trying to do what?
(a) Build better relationships to overcome depression.
(b) Explain the blackness of the fantasia of depression.
(c) Cheer up people who suffer from depression with their works.
(d) Overcome the effects of depression that overcome artists.

5. What is a probable reason that Styron's doctor or family don't suggest hospitalization for him?
(a) The social stigma and the fact that mental illness is not tangible or visible.
(b) They don't know he was that bad.
(c) They don't think it would help him.
(d) He gets angry whenever they approach the subject.

6. What is the third stage of psychological development in depression?
(a) Extreme fear of abandonment.
(b) Withdrawal.
(c) Suicide.
(d) Seclusion.

7. What does Styron say is the most important consideration in depression?
(a) Discovering how early diagnoses can be made or predicted.
(b) Discovering a cure.
(c) Discovering which medicines are most effective.
(d) Discovering what causes depressed people to commit suicide.

8. What is Styron's first dream in many months?
(a) His wife leaving him.
(b) A flute, a wild goose, and a dancing girl.
(c) A flock of Canadian geese.
(d) A demon, a fire, and his own death.

9. What conclusion can we make for what Styron says about his recovery?
(a) Medicines need to be adjusted correctly.
(b) That is was difficult and required a lot of strength.
(c) Writing in his diary helped him recover.
(d) That he just needed some more rest.

10. What does Styron say about people who survive a depressive episode?
(a) They come out with few permanent wounds.
(b) They are very strong people but succumb to a weakness.
(c) They are weak people who just happened to endure an episode.
(d) They are permanently damaged mentally.

11. What does the depression and sense of hopelessness cause Styron to do?
(a) Try to kill himself.
(b) Go to bed for hours every day.
(c) Write even more in an attempt to understand it.
(d) Run away from his wife and home.

12. For Styron, what do the black whirling stars of Van Gogh represent?
(a) Precursors of his plunge into dementia and self-annihilation.
(b) The everlasting nature of man's soul.
(c) The darkness of depression.
(d) The beauty of the night sky.

13. What piece of music moves Styron to his breakthrough and hospitalization?
(a) Beethoven's Fifth.
(b) Halleluah Chorus.
(c) Brahms's Alto Rhapsody.
(d) Chopin's Funeral March.

14. How does Styron explain his approach to his self-destruction?
(a) He knew he would hurt his wife, but had to do it.
(b) It was fully deserved.
(c) He was going to choose a painless method.
(d) Melodramatic, one part of him the actor, and one part of him the audience.

15. How does his diary represent his mental state?
(a) It was a treatise on mental illness.
(b) That when he wanted to destroy it, he was close to his own death.
(c) It contained all his thoughts and feelings.
(d) It corresponded to his moods as he wrote about them.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the doctor tell Styron about his medicine, Halcion, and its dosage?

2. As horrible as this hallucination is, what does Styron say about Bergman, who wrote the script?

3. What is Styron's reaction to being admitted to the hospital?

4. What does Styron do about his physical disabilities?

5. What sort of people does Styron say is more prone to depression?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 777 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample