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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 did Gay initially want to attend college?

2. What did Gay's mother wear when she cooked?

3. What was the title of Gay's short story collection for her thesis?

4. Who comes to stay with Gay during her follow-up surgery in high school?

5. What name does Gay give to her imaginary boyfriend?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Gay referring to when she says her life was split in two, “the before and the after" (14)?

2. What does Gay mean when she says her body is a cage?

3. Why did Gay like the idea of going to boarding school when she was 13?

4. What was Gay’s impression of the information session about gastric bypass surgery?

5. What activity did Gay enjoy in high school that helped her forget her pain?

6. How does Gay describe Haitian attitudes toward gluttony?

7. Where did Gay's rape take place, and how does she reference the location throughout the rest of the book in how she refers to herself?

8. What advice about writing did Gay’s teacher, Mr. McGuinn, give to Gay?

9. What was Gay's mother’s approach to teaching her children how to cook?

10. What prompts Gay to drop out of Yale and move across the country?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Gay describes conflicting feelings toward cooking. Explain some of her positive and negative attitudes about cooking, citing specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the book, Gay describes how she becomes upset or panicked when she starts a new weight-loss regime and starts losing a significant amount of weight. Write an essay explaining why she reacts this way, detailing the conflicting feelings she describes about her obesity.

Essay Topic 3

How did Gay’s rape affect her sexuality and subsequent intimate relationships with both men and women? Why is she attracted to the BDSM community?

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