1. Why does the man in the story feel so ill?
(a) He has cancer.
(b) He has the flu.
(c) He is having a heart attack.
(d) He has food poisoning.

2. Why are rams' horns being blown all around the city?
(a) It is Yom Kippur.
(b) It is Hanukkah.
(c) It is Rosh Hashanah.
(d) It is Sukkot.

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

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) Allegory.
(b) Allusion.
(c) Personification.
(d) Simile.

5. What is it logical to infer about the church women who are wearing red?
(a) They are ushers.
(b) They are collecting the offering.
(c) They are worship leaders.
(d) They are the choir.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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)?

2. The man tells the woman that he has committed "blasphemy" (20). What has he done?

3. Besides reading the Bible, what else does the woman spend her time doing in the period of time her story is about?

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

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

(see the answer key)

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