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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: The Center of the Story.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What detail of the woman's train ride reinforces the motif of things that come close to happening but do not actually happen?
(a) Her distance from the city.
(b) Her thoughts about religion.
(c) The water level.
(d) The direction she is traveling.

2. In what religion are the High Holy Days a sacred time?
(a) Islam.
(b) Hinduism.
(c) Judaism.
(d) Christianity.

3. On her train ride, what does the woman realize she has not given much thought to?
(a) The devil.
(b) The newscasters.
(c) Her friend's illness.
(d) Her next story.

4. What technique is used in the sentence: "The story is flat and even, just as the earth seems flat and even when a hurricane is advancing over it" (19)?
(a) Allusion.
(b) Allegory.
(c) Simile.
(d) Personification.

5. Where is the woman's landlady from?
(a) Trinidad.
(b) Barbados.
(c) Cuba.
(d) Jamaica.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is with the landlady when the landlady is talking about the mayor?

2. What does the narrator say "usually promises to be interesting" (19)?

3. What does the landlady say the mayor gave her?

4. What can be inferred about the woman from the description of the women who try to get her to sit down at their church?

5. Who is "thinking of writing a letter to the President" (20)?

(see the answer key)

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