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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. What do the narrator and her husband speak about right before he asks her to have an open marriage in the story "Open Marriage"?

2. What is Milly's best physical feature?

3. What is the stone thrower afraid of when he and his glass wife go to the opera?

4. Why does the narrator in the story "A Pat" seek out desperate people to help?

5. How did Father Minty's own father die?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Hanna react when she sees her mother for the first time in 16 years?

4. Why is Natasha in "Break All the Way Down" repelled by dogs?

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

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

7. Why does Hanna drive to the college town nearby and invite sexual encounters with college-aged boys in secret?

8. What does Father Michael realize at the end of "Bad Priest" about his mother's knowledge of his private life?

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

10. What helps to bring Natasha and Ben back together in "Break All the Way Down"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does the narrator in "The Mark of Cain" refrain from confronting either Caleb, her husband, or Jacob, her husband's twin brother, about the fact that they frequently trade places and pretend to be each other for lengthy periods of time? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text.

Essay Topic 2

In the story "Florida," Gay uses a variety of different characters' voices and points of view to offer vastly different perspectives on the same community. Write an essay analyzing how Gay's use of different perspectives and characters' voices affects the narrative and the reader's experience of this story.

Essay Topic 3

In the story "Water, All Its Weight," both Bianca's parents and her husband eventually abandon her because of the rot and decay that accompany her wherever she goes. Write an essay exploring how Bianca seems to handle being abandoned by the people closest to her at different stages of her life.

(see the answer keys)

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