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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through "Why I Write," "Telling Stories" .

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is Skip's son stationed in "Fathers, Sons, Screaming Eagles"?
(a) Bastogne.
(b) Pearl Harbor.
(c) Normandy.
(d) Vietnam.

2. What is Nancy's son's nickname in "Pretty Nancy"?
(a) First Mate.
(b) The Skipper.
(c) Captain.
(d) Gilligan.

3. In "Telling Stories," what publication finally accepted Didion's story "When Did Music Come This Way"?
(a) Harper's.
(b) Denver Quarterly.
(c) Esquire.
(d) The New Yorker.

4. What does Didion say she considered doing after receiving her rejection letter in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?
(a) Overdosing on pills.
(b) Slitting her wrists.
(c) Shooting herself.
(d) Running away.

5. What does Didion say she has never read in an underground paper in "Alicia and the Underground Press"?
(a) She says she has never read anything political.
(b) She says she has never read anything she needs to know.
(c) She says she has never read anything useless.
(d) She says she has never read anything well written.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does Joan use to describe the way things were back when she received her rejection letter compared to when she wrote What grade does Joan's friend get on the essay she wrote for him in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?

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

3. What are the underground newspapers Didion describes in "Alicia and the Underground Press" able to do that mainstream papers are not?

4. How old is Walter Davis' son in "Fathers, Sons, Screaming Eagles"?

5. In "Telling Stories," what novel does Didion say developed from her notes that began about a man and woman in New York?

(see the answer key)

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