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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 is Petra’s mother sewing into the dresses she makes?

2. How long a drive is the residency from C——‘s home, in "The Resident"?

3. What kind of illness does the narrator of "The Resident" come down with?

4. What does the narrator of "Real Women Have Bodies" compare Glam to?

5. What is Edna’s role at Devil’s Throat, in "The Resident"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the irony the narrator of "Eight Bites"notices about Dr. U?

2. Why do the narrator of "Eight Bites" and her sisters want this operation?

3. How does the public first learn of the women who are "going incorporeal" in "Real Women Have Bodies"?

4. in "The Resident," what is the "Brownie song," and what role does it play in the story?

5. In "The Resident," what are the other artists like, at the residency?

6. How does Petra’s increasing incorporeality affect her relationship with the narrator?

7. What does the narrator’s daughter think about the operation she wants to have in "Eight Bites"?

8. What is the narrator’s relationship like, with her shadow self in "Eight Bites"?

9. What is the narrator’s role in Anele’s project called "the Artists"?

10. What is the narrator’s relationship like with Petra, in the beginning of "Real Women Have Bodies"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the dangers confronting women in Machado’s stories, and what are the skills they develop—or skills that Machado herself shows us, as narrator—that overcome the dangers or at least compensate for losses?

Essay Topic 2

In what ways is Her Body and Other Parties relevant to contemporary readers? What contemporary issues are in play in the book, and how would the book contribute to contemporary discussion? Cite specific discussions from contemporary sources, and cite specific instances from the book, that describe its contemporary relevance.

Essay Topic 3

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

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