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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What detail of the woman's train ride reinforces the motif of things that come close to happening but do not actually happen?

2. On her train ride, what does the woman realize she has not given much thought to?

3. 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)?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What arguments for and against including the newscasters in her story does the woman entertain?

2. What is the woman's story about, and what is its major flaw?

3. What did the woman originally begin her story with that she later decides to edit out?

4. What comment does the story make about paring a story down to the essentials, and what does this have to do with Davis's own style?

5. In the end of "The Center of the Story," what does the woman realize about the emptiness at the center of her story?

6. What contradiction does Davis's first sentence introduce?

7. Why does the man in the main character's story think that he is dying, and what does he do about it?

8. Besides the timing of his phone call, what connects the man who thinks he is dying to the rest of the story the woman is writing?

9. What paradox related to religion does the woman encounter in writing her story?

10. Who are the people in the story that the writer is working on?

(see the answer keys)

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