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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the story "Difficult Women," who does a loose woman never look up to?

2. Where does a frigid woman go at night in the story "Difficult Women"?

3. Where has Marcy lived her whole life before moving to Florida in the story "Florida"?

4. Where do Bianca and her husband go on their honeymoon?

5. What band does Kate love?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Carolina tell Savvie she decided to marry Darryl?

2. What traumatic event did Kate experience with her long-term partner before meeting Magnus?

3. In the story "Difficult Women," what is it about death that makes girls more interesting?

4. What does Sal do to Caridad in the story "Florida" that upsets and offends Caridad?

5. What do all the women in the narrator's and Tate's "fight club" seem to get out of the experience in "Baby Arm"?

6. Why does Sarah, who goes by Sierra at work, perform at a strip club?

7. What does Kate's elderly landlady tell her in the story "North Country" when she meets her for the first time?

8. Why does the narrator in "The Mark of Cain" decide not to let on that she knows her husband switches places with his twin?

9. In "Difficult Women," what does Gay say a loose woman sees in the mirror and why?

10. What event eventually brings Kate and Magnus back together?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the story "Baby Arm," how is the fact that the narrator deliberately maintains an emotional detachment from her boyfriend, Gus, related to her attraction to the fight club that she organizes with Tate? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing the tone Gay strikes in the story "I am a Knife." In this story, the narrator has suffered the traumatic loss of a baby and is later called upon to help save her twin sister's baby during childbirth, and there is a moment when it is unclear whether the narrator is worthy of the trust her twin sister places in her as the narrator holds her life in her hands. Cite specific references to the text in explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing what you think the narrator's source of power and control over her husband in the story "Open Marriage" seems to be. Why does the narrator seem so completely unconcerned when her husband suggests they engage in an open marriage?

(see the answer keys)

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