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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. Where do the narrator and her husband live in "I Am a Knife"?

2. In what way is Hanna deceiving her husband?

3. What happens to the stone thrower's wife as they have sex?

4. What secret of the stone thrower's does the stone thrower's glass wife discover?

5. Where does Hanna work?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does the stone thrower first meet his glass wife in the story "Requiem for a Glass Heart"?

2. What does the reader learn about the stone thrower through the eyes of his glass wife at the end of the story?

3. What is appealing to Rebekah about her affair with Father Michael?

4. What unique ability do Hanna and Anna share?

5. What does the narrator of "Bone Density" find in her husband's suitcase that confirms her knowledge that he is having an affair?

6. What secret of her own does the narrator keep from her unfaithful husband David in "Bone Density"?

7. What does Natasha finally do that her husband has repeatedly been asking her to do at the end of "Break All the Way Down"?

8. Why did Father Michael Patrick Minty not really know his father in the story" Bad Priest"?

9. Why does Natasha seem to feel responsible for her child's fatal accident in "Break All the Way Down"?

10. What Bible story did Nora Minty, Father Michael's mother, tell to Father Michael many times?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the story "La Negra Blanca," what does the character Alvarez symbolize? How does Alvarez's status as an undocumented immigrant affect Sarah's decision not to go to the police after William Livingston rapes her? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text.

Essay Topic 2

In several stories, including "North Country," "Break All the Way Down," and "Strange Gods," stillbirth or the sudden, tragic loss of a very young child are recurring themes. Write an essay analyzing how Gay uses the topic of grief over a child's death to develop the main characters in several of her stories, citing specific examples to the text in 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?

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