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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What quote from Baudelaire does Styron use to explain his feelings?
(a) "Madness is but a figment of the imagination."
(b) "Man's madness is his downfall."
(c) "I have felt the wind of the wing of madness."
(d) "Madness breeds madness."

2. What happens to Gary's ex-wife?
(a) She was killed by someone, probably Gary himself.
(b) She shot herself.
(c) She disappeared and was never found again.
(d) She took an overdose of pills and her body was found in a car after several days.

3. What does Styron say about alcohol's mood-altering characteristics?
(a) It had no effect on his mood.
(b) It lightened his mood for a good amount of time.
(c) It is an upper, but depressed him.
(d) It is a depressant, but didn't depress him.

4. What does Styron think of these two people, who were close literary friends?
(a) He thinks they both had depression.
(b) He thinks they should have won the award.
(c) He thinks they should move to America where they would be more recognized.
(d) He doesn't think their writing was very good.

5. Why is Styron not worried about the loss?
(a) He feels he is justified in getting angry.
(b) He is so depressed and lethargic that nothing matters to him.
(c) He knows he will be okay later.
(d) He knows his friend will be his friend again.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the suicide of another of Styron's friends lead him to believe?

2. Why would Jarrell's widow not want to admit he committed suicide?

3. What does Styron say about assigning reasons for suicide to those who take that route?

4. What Camus novel has a profound impact on Styron?

5. According to Styron, why is the word depression so hard for people to accept?

Short Essay Questions

1. What event caused Styron to realize he needed to go to the hospital?

2. What did Styron have to say about hospitalization for depressed people?

3. What was special about Styron's situation with depression?

4. What indications of Gary's depression did Styron mention?

5. What are some of the ways Styron indicated he had thought of as a means to commit his own suicide?

6. Why were the new medicines becoming available in the 1980's and Dr. Gold's approach to them indicative of how depression was viewed and treated during that time? Why was it not sufficient?

7. What did Styron say was his most difficult piece of writing, and how did he describe it?

8. What happened to Romain Gary, Styron's friend, as a result of his depression?

9. What did the suicides of several of his friends, who had distinguished careers and were obviously intelligent and known for their strong character, cause Styron to do? How was his beliefs opposed to the general public view?

10. Why did Styron refuse to go to a luncheon with Simone del Duca, even though he had made an appointment to do so?

(see the answer keys)

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