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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 does Levi's suicide cause Styron to do?
(a) Write an op-ed piece to the NY Times on depression, discounting the shame most felt about it.
(b) Denounce Levi as his friend.
(c) Condemn Levi for his cowardice.
(d) Plan his own suicide.

2. In what way does Styron's depression come upon him?
(a) It hit him suddenly one night.
(b) A slight sadness intensified rapidly over time.
(c) Slowly in increments.
(d) He really didn't know how it happened.

3. What is Styron not able to recover?
(a) His friendships.
(b) His fame.
(c) His lucidity.
(d) His family.

4. What does Styron say about not returning to France?
(a) He believes one day in the near future he will take his own life.
(b) It cost so much to go and he was nearly broke.
(c) He doesn't like to travel.
(d) He had such a miserable time in Paris.

5. What reaction does Styron have to a flock of Canadian geese?
(a) He thinks they are graceful.
(b) He tries to shoot them.
(c) He is frozen in anxiety at the sight of them.
(d) They temporarily restore his good feelings.

Short Answer Questions

1. What clues does Gary reveal that Styron later learns was probably signs of deep depression?

2. What happens to Gary's ex-wife?

3. What is unusual about Styron's visit to Paris?

4. What causes Styron to lose his voice in Paris?

5. According to Styron, how many women have won the Prix Mondial Cino del Duca award?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Styron say about his physical condition after he got released from the hospital?

2. Styron gave little credence to his outpatient therapy, but said what about the 50 minutes involved?

3. What did Camus speak of that so strongly affected Styron? What relationship did Styron have with Camus?

4. What happened to Styron's body as he succumbed to depression?

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

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

7. What is the relationship between artistic temperaments and suicide and what was Styron's appeal in relationship to it?

8. Why wasn't Styron concerned about Camus, his ex-wife, and Gary when he learned they were suffering from depression?

9. What term did Stryon say was a more apt description of depression than that word itself?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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