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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 does the narrator of "The Husband Stitch" give the reader instructions for?

2. What does the narrator of "Mothers" dream love might be able to do?

3. In the "Bad blood" episode summary, what to Stabler and Benson say about the crime they solved?

4. How does the narrator of "The Husband Stitch" describe herself, in the "dramatis personae" section?

5. How does the narrator of "Mothers" qualify her statement when she tells the baby she loves her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Benson’s relationship with produce?

2. What is the importance of the ‘hook-handed hitch-hiker’ in "The Husband Stitch"?

3. What is the significance of the narrator’s green ribbon, in "The Husband Stitch"?

4. Is the ending or "Inventory" a triumph or a defeat?

5. What is happening in the ending of "Mothers"?

6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the sexual frankness in Her Body and Other Parties?

7. What kind of atmosphere does Machado create with her epigrams?

8. What is the effect of having unnamed narrators?

9. What does Stabler do to complicate relations with his wife in "Especial Heinous"?

10. How is Stabler’s life unlike the girls with bells with eyes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How would you defend Carmen Machado against the accusation Lydia makes to C—— M—— in "The Resident," that she is really the ‘madwoman in the attic’?

Essay Topic 2

Is Machado’s book a guide for how to live? Or a cautionary tale about what happens if you try to live fully?

Essay Topic 3

Is happiness possible, in Machado’s terms? Is it even desirable? If happiness is not the most important thing to feel, what would be more important, in Machado’s world? How does Machado show us ways to explore alternatives to happiness?

(see the answer keys)

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