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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say she did in English 106A to make herself invisible in class?

2. Which friend of Hemingway and his wife does Didion mention at the start of "Last Words"?

3. What did Mary Hemingway allow Carlos Baker to do in his book published after Hemingway's death?

4. Who does Didion say is the only woman Mapplethorpe photographed who came across as being "entirely in charge of herself" (62)?

5. In "Why I Write," Didion says she writes to understand what sorts of things?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Telling Stories," what grade does Joan say she received in 106A, and why does she think she got that grade?

2. What surprised Didion after Richardson's death upon reading his manuscript?

3. In "Some Women," what does Didion say about what artists do and do not like to talk about with regard to their art?

4. What does Didion say about the way she thinks, or does not think, at the start of "Why I Write"?

5. What does Didion say about the Milton class she had to take in order to graduate from Berkeley?

6. What did Didion first think Run River was a story about, and what did it become?

7. What example does Didion cite as proof that Hemingway did not want his letters to be published after his death in "Last Words"?

8. In "Telling Stories," how does Joan describe what she learned about writing while working at Vogue?

9. Where did Didion attend photoshoots in her story "Some Women," and what does she say she noticed about the most successful shoots?

10. What does Joan say she learned to do when writing "When Did Music Come This Way," and what did that story allow her to do after it was complete?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing Didion's feminist commentary in "Everywoman.com." What aspects of the story come across as particularly feminist? How does this affect the narrative? Use textual evidence to explain your analysis.

Essay Topic 2

Based on her essays in Let Me Tell You What I Mean ,write an analysis of Joan Didion. Consider who she is as a writer, what you know of her backstory, as well as who and what she likes and dislikes. Use textual evidence to support your analysis.

Essay Topic 3

Choose 3 essays from Let Me Tell You What I Mean and write an essay about the significance of the time period for each essay. What commentary might the piece say about any significant event or belief of that time?

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