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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. 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) Juxtaposition.
(b) Non sequitur.
(c) Analogy.
(d) Parallelism.

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

9. 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 thoughts about religion.
(b) The water level.
(c) The direction she is traveling.
(d) Her distance from the city.

10. What detail in the description of the man indicates how ill he feels?
(a) The sounds he is making.
(b) The smell coming from his skin.
(c) The color of his face.
(d) The way his ribs protrude.

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

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

13. What can be inferred about the woman from the description of the women who try to get her to sit down at their church?
(a) She is Jewish.
(b) She is not Black.
(c) She is not a Christian.
(d) She is White.

14. What color is the light in the man's bedroom?
(a) Grey.
(b) Yellow.
(c) Purple.
(d) Blue.

15. In the story's opening sentence, what is implied about the main character's writing?
(a) More than one of her stories is uninteresting.
(b) She is losing interest in her career.
(c) She does not deserve the praise she has gotten.
(d) Her readers are gradually deserting her.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the main character find that the story she is working on is not an easy one to write?

2. 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)?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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