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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through "Alicia and the Underground Press," "Getting Serenity," "A Trip to Xanadu" .

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Didion note that meeting attendees have an unusual knack for in "Getting Serenity"?
(a) Dates and numbers.
(b) Making cake.
(c) Smoking constantly.
(d) Finishing each other's sentences.

2. In "A Trip to Xanadu," what is the name of the pool at San Simeon?
(a) Saturn.
(b) Venus.
(c) Jupiter.
(d) Neptune.

3. What does Didion feel meetings such as the one she attended in "Getting Serenity" reinforce in people?
(a) The desire to gamble.
(b) The instinct to relive your story over and over.
(c) The belief they cannot recover.
(d) The addict's passive view of his situation.

4. According to Didion in "A Trip to Xanadu," in what year did San Simeon become a state monument?
(a) 1979.
(b) 2020.
(c) 1985.
(d) 1958.

5. Where does Didion say she used to eavesdrop on people's conversations thinking "it was a good way to learn about life" (23) in "Getting Serenity"?
(a) Restaurants.
(b) The Greyhound.
(c) The Airport.
(d) The Post Office.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the author of Let Me Tell You What I Mean?

2. What style of writing does Didion compare Alicia's underground piece to in "Alicia and the Underground Press"?

3. In "Alicia and the Underground Press," what does Didion feel the claim to have no bias in reporting leads to in writing?

4. Why is the first speaker in "Getting Serenity" unable to sleep when she returned home after 5 a.m.?

5. In "A Trip to Xanadu," Didion says that San Simeon is "exactly the castle" (26) what type of person would build if that person were wealthy?

(see the answer key)

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