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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What characteristic does the narrator hope his wife will have?
(a) Depression.
(b) Sterility.
(c) Happiness.
(d) Fertility.

2. What is the only thing that a man ever completely owns, according to the narrator?
(a) Faith.
(b) Prayers.
(c) Love.
(d) Dreams.

3. Who, according to the narrator, does not realize the difference between the people of the middle class and those of other classes?
(a) Revolutionaries.
(b) Managers.
(c) Religious leaders.
(d) Business owners.

4. According to the narrator, what is developing when a person realizes their greatest area of anxiety is indeed insignificant?
(a) Love.
(b) Responsibility.
(c) Faith.
(d) Wisdom.

5. When does the narrator begin to think of writing as unappealing?
(a) When his mother tells him his writing is lousy.
(b) After the critic finds fault with his work.
(c) After he is told he is not physically appealing.
(d) After his book is rejected by a publisher.

6. Who hates to read the newspaper?
(a) The office boy.
(b) Soares.
(c) The narrator's mother.
(d) Vasquez.

7. Whose life is like a ball of tangled yarn?
(a) Common people's.
(b) Soares's.
(c) Intelligent people's.
(d) Religious group members.

8. What does the narrator say is the only true form of pleasure that exists?
(a) Art.
(b) Dreaming.
(c) Sleeping.
(d) Reading.

9. What does the narrator say he would be happy to do without having to live?
(a) Breath.
(b) Write.
(c) See.
(d) Read.

10. When was the manuscript for this book discovered?
(a) After the author was put in a nursing home.
(b) After the author told a relative that he'd hidden a manuscript.
(c) After the author completed the book.
(d) After the author's death.

11. According to a critic, what does the narrator need in order to become a charming person?
(a) A better personality.
(b) Deeper thoughts.
(c) Better looks.
(d) Better writing skills.

12. What does the narrator say about the office boy's travels?
(a) Says he is well-travelled in his soul.
(b) Says he is unimpressed.
(c) Says he wishes the boy would travel somewhere and not come back.
(d) Says he is a bother every Monday morning, talking about his weekend trips.

13. Why does the narrator contend that a person cannot truly love another person?
(a) It is impossible to fear a mere human.
(b) It is impossible to respect humanity.
(c) A person never really knows another person.
(d) A person cannot own another person.

14. Who does the narrator say should be banned to an island?
(a) All poor people.
(b) All intelligent people.
(c) All stupid people.
(d) All rich people.

15. What does the narrator say a person must do in order to truly love something?
(a) Own it.
(b) Fear it.
(c) Respect it.
(d) Know it.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator say man is not intended to see without the help of nature only?

2. After pointing out a play that he describes as terribly flawed, how does the narrator say he would have felt to be the author of that play?

3. What is the name of the chapter in which the narrator seems to be declaring his love for some woman?

4. What does the narrator say is the only thing worth doing?

5. What is the writing style in which the writing seems to mimic the author's random thoughts?

(see the answer keys)

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