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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through "Some Women," "The Long Distance Runner," "Last Words" Part I.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How does Didion describe Richardson when in the act of filming a movie?
(a) Distant.
(b) Deliriously engaged.
(c) Hopelessly disorganized.
(d) Serious.

3. In "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice," what does Joan say her father did when she told him of her rejection letter?
(a) He told her she should call the school and complain.
(b) He told her she will never amount to anything now.
(c) He shrugged his shoulders and offered her a drink.
(d) He told her he knew she would not get in.

4. Rather than being adversaries, Didion says that writers for mainstream newspapers are now what?
(a) Blacklisted.
(b) Ignored.
(c) Confidants.
(d) Bribed.

5. What is one of the words Didion uses to describe the way the Hearsts spend their money in "A Trip to Xanadu"?
(a) Responsibility.
(b) Conservatively.
(c) Flamboyance.
(d) Frivolously.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Didion say she did when she first read the college rejection letter in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?

2. In "Why I Write," Didion says that the image that played into her story the most in Book of Common Prayer came from when she was at an airport in which country?

3. What did Tony Richardson begin doing years before his death for "something to do" between film shoots?

4. What is the subject of the essay Joan's friend asked her to write for him in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?

5. In "Long Distance Runner," who did Richardson take to France when Didion and her husband were unable to join him?

(see the answer key)

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