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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How old is the man who speaks second in "Getting Serenity" who states that the city has "destroyed" (23) him?
(a) 75.
(b) 18.
(c) 48.
(d) 22.

2. What kind of talk does Didion find unsettling during the meeting in "Getting Serenity"?
(a) Talk of death and dying.
(b) Obsession with dates and numbers.
(c) Talk of miracles and Higher Powers.
(d) Talk of lying and stealing.

3. What does the first speaker in "Getting Serenity" do before going out to the club?
(a) Put her children to bed.
(b) Drink 1/5 of vodka.
(c) Buy drugs.
(d) Shoot up.

4. Which of Joan's relatives does she show her college rejection letter to in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?
(a) Her cousin.
(b) Her daughter.
(c) Her niece.
(d) Her sister.

5. What does Nancy tell Joan she does not believe in being at the end of "Pretty Nancy"?
(a) An absentee mother.
(b) A meek housewife.
(c) A helicopter parent.
(d) A busybody.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does one of the speakers in "Getting Serenity" say used to happen to him each time he passed Gardena?

2. 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?

3. In what city in California does the meeting in "Getting Serenity" take place?

4. In "Pretty Nancy," Didion describes Nancy has having a smile of someone who did what?

5. Where did the second speaker in "Getting Serenity" first start gambling?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Joan's father react when she told him she did not get into Stanford in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?

2. How does Didion describe the way the Hearsts spent money in "A Trip to Xanadu"?

3. What does Nancy Reagan show Joan at the State Capital and what does she say about it?

4. Who is Skip Skivington and what does he tell Joan about his son in "Fathers, Sons, and Screaming Eagles"?

5. What does Walter Davis say about his perspective on the war at the end of "Fathers, Sons, and Screaming Eagles"?

6. What part of the meeting in "Getting Serenity does Didion find most unsettling and why?

7. What does Didion say underground papers are able to do that conventional papers cannot in "Alicia and the Underground Press"?

8. Describe the first female speaker in "Getting Serenity."

9. In what way does the newsman in "Pretty Nancy" try to manipulate the moment to achieve his desired outcome?

10. Where is Joan Didion in her essay "Fathers, Sons, Screaming Eagles" (38)?

(see the answer keys)

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