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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 does the narrator say "usually promises to be interesting" (19)?
(a) A flood.
(b) A religious crisis.
(c) A hurricane.
(d) A death.

2. What detail does the story give about the shape of the tape on the windows?
(a) It is shaped like asterisks.
(b) It is shaped like the letter "x."
(c) It is shaped like crosses.
(d) It is shaped like diamonds.

3. What denomination is the last church that the woman visits?
(a) Congregationalist.
(b) Methodist.
(c) Episcopalian.
(d) Baptist.

4. What detail in the description of the man's bedroom indicates how close the hurricane is getting?
(a) The flickering electricity.
(b) The windows rattling.
(c) The drawn blinds.
(d) The television weather forecast.

5. Who is "thinking of writing a letter to the President" (20)?
(a) The landlady.
(b) The main character.
(c) The man who thinks he is dying.
(d) The woman at the church.

Short Answer Questions

1. After completing her first draft of the story, what does the woman realize about it?

2. How does the woman realize her study of religion has made her feel?

3. Who is the author of "The Center of the 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)?

5. What detail of the woman's train ride reinforces the motif of things that come close to happening but do not actually happen?

(see the answer key)

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