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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. In I shot a man in Reno, how long is Bukowski hired for his job?
(a) One year.
(b) One month.
(c) Three months.
(d) Five months.

2. Who does the woman sleep with first in I Shot a Man in Reno?
(a) She sleeps with no one.
(b) Jim.
(c) Luke.
(d) Bukowski.

3. In The Big Pot Game, what does Bukowski think that older men have around them?
(a) Comfort.
(b) Happiness.
(c) Contentedness.
(d) Misery.

4. How does Bukowski feel about the situation in poetry in Eyes Like the Sky?
(a) It is already better.
(b) It will get worse.
(c) It can change.
(d) It will never change.

5. What other distortion of truth exists, according to Bukowski in Eyes Like the Sky?
(a) Workplace.
(b) World of poetry.
(c) Parenthood.
(d) Marriage.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of music does Bukowski think about in Notes of a Potential Suicide?

2. What place does Bukowski describe in Purple as an Iris?

3. In Notes on the Pest, what does a pest talk to Bukowski about at the diner?

4. What happens when the men and women's wards mix in Purple as an Iris?

5. What does Bukowski discuss with his friends in Beer and Poets and Talk?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Carol do for Gordon to help him in Animal Crackers in My Soup?

2. Who is causing all the noise with the car horn in Night Streets of Madness, and why?

3. What happens at the end of the Flower Horse?

4. Why does Bukowski welcome death in A Popular Man?

5. How does Bukowski feel next to Jim in I Shot a Man in Reno?

6. How does Bukowski's obsession with death and sex show up in Notes of a Potential Suicide?

7. What is different about Beer and Poets and Talk than the other short stories in Tales of Ordinary Madness?

8. How do the older men contrast with the younger ones in The Big Pot Game?

9. Why does Bukowski cry after burning the blanket in The Blanket?

10. What do Bukowski's visitors take away from him in A Popular Man?

(see the answer keys)

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