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

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

3. What does the sick man want when he calls the main character?
(a) He wants her advice about whether to go to the hospital.
(b) He wants her to come over and help him.
(c) He wants to talk about death and the afterlife.
(d) He wants to apologize for the argument they recently had.

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

5. What specific Biblical story does the writer focus on?
(a) Noah's Ark.
(b) The Trials of Job.
(c) Jonah and the Great Fish.
(d) The Garden of Eden.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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)?

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

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

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

5. What does the woman suspect that the man believes about his blasphemy?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What happens when the woman visits a Baptist church?

5. Explain what the "yellow pall" is and what things in Davis's story it is attached to.

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

7. How is the story that the woman is writing similar to the earth and different from a hurricane?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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