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

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

3. 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.

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

5. 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 the letter "x."
(c) It is shaped like crosses.
(d) It is shaped like asterisks.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the story's opening sentence, what is implied about the main character's writing?

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

3. What does the landlady say the mayor gave her?

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

5. Besides reading the Bible, what else does the woman spend her time doing in the period of time her story is about?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the woman is riding the train, after the hurricane has passed, what two realizations does she come to?

2. 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?

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

4. What book has the woman been reading, and what story is she specifically interested in?

5. What does the woman realize about her religious belief and the calm she feels?

6. Why does the woman watch the news so often, and what does she hear on the news that makes her feel exicted?

7. 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?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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