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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 did Gay tell the crying young girl in the dressing room?

2. Which of the following eating disorders does Gay watch a Nightline program about?

3. Which eating disorder did Gay struggle with?

4. Where was Gay's first teaching job following her PhD program?

5. What did Gay have to do in front of an audience that humiliated her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Gay think about the reality television show The Biggest Loser?

2. What type of eating disorder did Gay struggle with in addition to her compulsive overeating?

3. What is the reason Gay gives for becoming a vegetarian?

4. What kind of a job does Gay have while she is living in Phoenix?

5. What does Gay mean by what she calls Lane Bryant fat?

6. How does Gay characterize her relationship with Jon?

7. In the period of Gay’s life when she drops out of Yale, why does she feel free?

8. Why does Gay do extensive research on restaurants before she goes out to eat?

9. Why does Gay say she is envious of anorexic girls even though she knows they are also struggling terribly?

10. As Gay is finishing her MA program in creative writing, what are most of the fictional stories she writes about?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Reflecting on her adult intimate relationships, Gay writes, “I think most of my sad stories are behind me. There are things I will no longer tolerate” (251). Write an essay summarizing some of Gay’s difficulties in forming healthy intimate relationships and how her attitude towards her own relationships evolves over the course of the book.

Essay Topic 3

Gay repeatedly refers to her body as “unruly.” Write an essay analyzing why she describes her body this way.

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