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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Why does the main character find that the story she is working on is not an easy one to write?
(a) It is about friendship.
(b) It is about religion.
(c) It is about fear.
(d) It is about death.

3. What does the landlady say the mayor gave her?
(a) Flowers.
(b) Carpet.
(c) An award.
(d) A stove.

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

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

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

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

8. Why was the woman reading the Bible during the period she writes about in her story?
(a) Because she wanted to use Biblical allusions in her writing.
(b) Because she needed comfort during the hurricane.
(c) Because she wanted to know exactly what it said.
(d) Because it was the High Holy Days.

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

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

11. 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 White.
(b) She is Jewish.
(c) She is not a Christian.
(d) She is not Black.

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

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

14. For the majority of the story, what tone does the narrator adopt?
(a) Dismissive.
(b) Objective.
(c) Amused.
(d) Melancholic.

15. Who is with the landlady when the landlady is talking about the mayor?
(a) No one.
(b) The main character.
(c) The landlady's son.
(d) The mail carrier.

Short Answer Questions

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

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)?

3. What denomination is the last church that the woman visits?

4. What is it logical to infer about the church women who are wearing red?

5. Who is the author of "The Center of the Story"?

(see the answer keys)

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