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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 Styron want us to understand about those who commit suicide?
(a) That they had no other way to escape.
(b) That secrecy and shame are not the right reaction.
(c) That they were always good writers.
(d) That they were weak and couldn't handle pain.

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

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

4. How long does Stryon say it will be before he returns to Paris?
(a) A couple of years.
(b) Forever.
(c) A month.
(d) A year.

5. Why would Jarrell's widow not want to admit he committed suicide?
(a) Because of the stigma of suicide.
(b) She was cheating on him.
(c) She didn't believe he committed suicide.
(d) Because she couldn't collect his life insurance.

Short Answer Questions

1. What two people does Styron think of while leaving Paris?

2. Who is the doctor from Johns Hopkins who gave the name depression to the disease?

3. How did Levi commit suicide?

4. What starts Styron's downward spiral into depression?

5. Sir Walter Scott and the Brontes linked what two illnesses interchangeably?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss how Styron says he attempted to handle the increasing malaise that began to overcome him beginning in the summer.

2. How did Styron begin preparing for his death?

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

4. What advice did Styron give for the person suffering from depression?

5. What happened to Styron and his drinking habits and how did that affect him?

6. Why was depression such a hard thing for Styron in 1985?

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

8. Why did Styron say it was so hard for family members to accept a person's suicide, and what did they usually do about it?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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