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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. Who is the author of "The Center of the Story"?
(a) Lydia Davis.
(b) Judith Frank.
(c) Maile Chapman.
(d) Doris Betts.
2. What detail in the description of the man's bedroom indicates how close the hurricane is getting?
(a) The windows rattling.
(b) The drawn blinds.
(c) The television weather forecast.
(d) The flickering electricity.
3. 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 wanted to know exactly what it said.
(c) Because it was the High Holy Days.
(d) Because she needed comfort during the hurricane.
4. In the story's opening sentence, what is implied about the main character's writing?
(a) She does not deserve the praise she has gotten.
(b) She is losing interest in her career.
(c) More than one of her stories is uninteresting.
(d) Her readers are gradually deserting her.
5. Why does the man in the story feel so ill?
(a) He has food poisoning.
(b) He has cancer.
(c) He has the flu.
(d) He is having a heart attack.
Short Answer Questions
1. What does the landlady say the mayor gave her?
2. What detail does the story give about the shape of the tape on the windows?
3. What can be inferred about the woman from the description of the women who try to get her to sit down at their church?
4. Why does the main character find that the story she is working on is not an easy one to write?
5. Where is the woman's landlady from?
Short Essay Questions
1. Explain what the "yellow pall" is and what things in Davis's story it is attached to.
2. What contradiction does Davis's first sentence introduce?
3. 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?
4. Why does the woman watch the news so often, and what does she hear on the news that makes her feel exicted?
5. What did the woman originally begin her story with that she later decides to edit out?
6. In the end of "The Center of the Story," what does the woman realize about the emptiness at the center of her story?
7. How is the story that the woman is writing similar to the earth and different from a hurricane?
8. Who are the people in the story that the writer is working on?
9. What is the woman's story about, and what is its major flaw?
10. What book has the woman been reading, and what story is she specifically interested in?
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This section contains 958 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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