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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 is the award Styron receives?
(a) Nobel Peace Prize.
(b) Newberry Award.
(c) He didn't receive one, he was giving one.
(d) Prix Mondial Cino del Duca award.

2. What is the term Styron uses to better describe what is happening to a person with depression?
(a) A blue funk.
(b) A brain storm.
(c) Mourning for loss.
(d) A weak psyche.

3. How does Styron feel about his Connecticut farmhouse?
(a) He loves spending time there.
(b) He hates the house, preferring Martha's Vineyard.
(c) It feels ominous to him.
(d) He thinks it needed lots of work.

4. According to Styron, what do people closest to those who commit suicide often do?
(a) Deny that the death was suicide.
(b) Begin suffering from depression and are in danger of suicide also.
(c) Grieve longer than for death from other reasons.
(d) Denounce their loved one.

5. What bothers Styron about his meeting with Gary's estranged wife?
(a) Their son was caught between their differences.
(b) Gary's wife wasn't very involved with her son.
(c) That Gary was letting his estranged wife live with him.
(d) That he didn't understand her deep depression and what it meant.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. What does Styron believe about a depressed colleague's decision to ride with a reckless driver?

4. What effect does Styron's op-ed piece have on the general public?

5. What puzzles Styron about Camus's book, "The Fall"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What did Styron tell the reader about the incidence of depression and artistic types? Who are some artistic types who suffered from depression?

3. How did Dr. Gold's approach compare to the way the parish priest approached Emma in "Madame Bovary"?

4. Styron describes what common factor among almost all depressed persons contemplating suicide?

5. What role does Styron say friends and family play for the person with depression?

6. What did Styron discover about himself in Paris, during one of his more lucid moments?

7. What sort of therapy was used to help Styron overcome his depression?

8. How did Styron describe the internal struggle with depression? What was causing this internal struggle, beside just the depression?

9. What devastating therapy did Styron avoid, and why did he say he was able to avoid it?

10. What happened to Styron as his depression progressed?

(see the answer keys)

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