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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Besides reading the Bible, what else does the woman spend her time doing in the period of time her story is about?
(a) She calls each of her family members and friends.
(b) She looks out the window and watches the news.
(c) She reads the Koran and the Talmud.
(d) She shops for emergency supplies and fills her tub with water.

2. 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) Juxtaposition.
(c) Analogy.
(d) Non sequitur.

3. 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) Personification.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Simile.

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

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

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

7. What technique is used in the phrase "the stink of burning hair, fur, and horn" (19)?
(a) Imagery.
(b) Synesthesia.
(c) Onomatopoeia.
(d) Assonance.

8. What does the woman think might be preventing her from committing to a center for her story?
(a) Fear.
(b) Laziness.
(c) Curiosity.
(d) Hope.

9. For what reason, besides that "there may not be enough to tell about him," does the woman think that the man might not be the right "center" for her story (20)?
(a) This might not be the right time to tell his story.
(b) She is unclear about how she feels about the man.
(c) The man will be angry that she wrote about him.
(d) There is no real resolution to his story.

10. What does the sick man want when he calls the main character?
(a) He wants her advice about whether to go to the hospital.
(b) He wants to talk about death and the afterlife.
(c) He wants to apologize for the argument they recently had.
(d) He wants her to come over and help him.

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

12. How does the woman realize her study of religion has made her feel?
(a) Energized.
(b) Confused.
(c) Peaceful.
(d) Guilty.

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

14. The man tells the woman that he has committed "blasphemy" (20). What has he done?
(a) Shown disrespect to God.
(b) Told a harmful lie about someone.
(c) Contemplated suicide.
(d) Cursed God's name.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the woman suspect that the man believes about his blasphemy?

2. What does the hurricane do to the city in the woman's story?

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

4. Why was the woman reading the Bible during the period she writes about in her story?

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

(see the answer keys)

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