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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. What specific brand of clothing does Gay say fat, but not seriously obese, women often wear?

3. For a long time, Gay only wore what kinds of clothes?

4. What does Gay say always happens when she starts losing weight on a diet or exercise program?

5. What does Gay say her fat body allows people to erase?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gay’s family reestablish contact with her after she moves to the west coast?

2. Why does Gay eventually call her parents and go back home?

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

4. What is Gay’s impression of Oprah and Oprah’s influence on the cultural conversation about weight loss?

5. What did Gay say to the young, overweight woman in the dressing room whose mother was mistreating her and why was it important?

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

7. What significance did letting her best friend paint her thumbnail have for Gay?

8. How does Gay feel when she looks at her friends’ social media posts about doing outdoorsy or athletic things?

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

10. How does Gay characterize her relationship with Jon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Growing up in Haitian-American family, Gay felt there were certain expectations and roles she was required to fulfill. Write an essay analyzing how Gay’s cultural background affected her struggles with obesity and loneliness.

Essay Topic 2

Gay uses the idea of “accretion” to help explain both how she gained so much weight and her lifelong struggle with loneliness. Write an essay analyzing the meaning of “accretion” as it relates to these two specific problems in the author’s life, using specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 800 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample