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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. Who is the author of "The Center of the Story"?
(a) Doris Betts.
(b) Maile Chapman.
(c) Lydia Davis.
(d) Judith Frank.

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

3. What does the woman suspect that the man believes about his blasphemy?
(a) It is no one's business but his own.
(b) It is the reason she is angry at him.
(c) It caused the hurricane.
(d) It caused his illness.

4. After completing her first draft of the story, what does the woman realize about it?
(a) She understands more about herself and her life now that she has written it.
(b) She is losing touch with her passion as a writer.
(c) She is afraid that the content of the story will upset her friend.
(d) She cannot remember why she wanted to write it in the first place.

5. What technique is used in the sentence: "Outside her apartment, the weather was changing: the wind rose, the branches swayed on the young trees, and the leaves fluttered" (19)?
(a) Parallelism.
(b) Non sequitur.
(c) Analogy.
(d) Juxtaposition.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the woman think might be preventing her from committing to a center for her story?

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

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

4. What color is the light in the man's bedroom?

5. What does the sick man want when he calls the main character?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 330 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample