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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 say she tried very hard to do while a student at Berkeley in "Why I Write"?
(a) Think more realistically.
(b) Think in abstracts.
(c) Think clearly.
(d) Think like her professors.

2. Who is the star of the Tony Richardson film Didion cites at the start of "Long Distance Runner"?
(a) Robert DeNiro.
(b) Arnold Schwarzenegger.
(c) Jack Nicholson.
(d) Al Pacino.

3. 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?
(a) A child.
(b) A woman.
(c) A servant.
(d) A man.

4. In "Last Words," what writer does Didion say she could see Hemingway's influence on while teaching at Berkeley?
(a) George Orwell.
(b) William Faulkner.
(c) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(d) Gertrude Stein.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. One of the meeting attendees, Frank L., has been going to meetings for six years and on the night Joan attended had not placed a bet in how long?

2. Among what other items does Joan's rejection letter sit in a drawer at her mother's house in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?

3. How many nights does one of the speakers say he has been free from his addiction in "Getting Serenity"?

4. What is the name of the female character in A Book of Common Prayer which Didion discusses in "Why I Write" ?

5. Where in Las Vegas is the reunion Joan attends in "Fathers, Sons, Screaming Eagles"located?

(see the answer key)

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