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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. What does the narrator realize about himself?
(a) He is wasting his life.
(b) He wants to live by himself.
(c) He is artistic.
(d) He is afraid of conflict.

2. The narrator realizes that Lou is addicted to ________________.
(a) marijuana.
(b) cocaine.
(c) heroin.
(d) booze.

3. The narrator has to take Lou to a backroom physician to treat _______________________.
(a) Diabetes.
(b) an intestinal blockage.
(c) AIDS.
(d) a knife wound.

4. How does the narrator describe the hair of the girl on the subway?
(a) Straw nothingness.
(b) Goldest filigree.
(c) Rapturous amber.
(d) Cotton candy puffs.

5. Lou and Maria both know that the narrator ___________________ Sean.
(a) has fallen in love with.
(b) hates.
(c) is bored by.
(d) has tired of.

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator says that there was something genetic or psychological in his and his sister's makeup that __________________.

2. What has happened recently to Buddy and Betts?

3. What type of operation does the narrator decide not to have?

4. How does the narrator's mother see him?

5. Who is the woman with whom Lou has a relationship during this time?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator experience for the first time after a sexual encounter in a subway restroom that he has never experienced before?

2. How can Sean's "subhuman" comment be viewed in another context regarding the narrator's letting go of the shame he used to have for his behavior and desires?

3. Where does the narrator move to instead of going to Harvard where he has been accepted into a graduate program?

4. How did the poverty-stricken lives of Betts and Buddy mirror the social deprivation during the times they lived through?

5. How are the narrator's parents portrayed in the book and what do they want most for their son?

6. What is the significance of the narrator's sister's visit and her revelation of being a lesbian?

7. How do the narrator's views of himself change according to whose perspective he is viewed in?

8. What is significant about the energy created among the men after the group sexual encounter in the subway restroom

9. Why is the New York experience so important to the narrator's longing to be part of a community?

10. What eventually happens to Sean who is conflicted by his own identity?

(see the answer keys)

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