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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. Who asks for something to eat before dinner?
(a) Nick.
(b) Laura.
(c) Mel.
(d) Terri.

2. What does Mel suggest after the story is interrupted?
(a) That everyone go home to bed.
(b) That they stop drinking for awhile.
(c) That everyone have a drink and go to dinner.
(d) That everyone pitch in to help cook dinner.

3. Who shakes the empty beverage container at Mel?
(a) Terri.
(b) Marjorie.
(c) Nick.
(d) Laura.

4. What does Nick notice after the story is over?
(a) Everyone is crying.
(b) The afternoon light is waning.
(c) The sun is rising.
(d) The narrator has his arm around someone else's wife.

5. Why does Mel hope his ex-wife will get injured?
(a) So he can come and save her.
(b) So he can have an excuse to call his children.
(c) So he can come see her in the hospital.
(d) So she will die.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens at the end of the story?

2. Who tells the story of the old couple?

3. Who is the narrator?

4. Who claims that abusive behavior is not love?

5. How long has Nick been married?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the final conclusion about the meaning of love?

2. How does Nick respond when Mel says he would have liked a different profession?

3. What happens after Mel's story about the old couple ends?

4. Describe Mel's relationship with his ex-wife.

5. What does Mel think of Nick and Laura's love?

6. How is Nick and Laura's relationship portrayed by the author?

7. Where are the characters in the story from?

8. Who is the dominant character in Carver's story, and how do you know?

9. Which character is the most likable and why?

10. How is Mel's discussion of love similar to his profession?

(see the answer keys)

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