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

2. 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 she needed comfort during the hurricane.
(c) Because it was the High Holy Days.
(d) Because she wanted to use Biblical allusions in her writing.

3. The man tells the woman that he has committed "blasphemy" (20). What has he done?
(a) Cursed God's name.
(b) Shown disrespect to God.
(c) Told a harmful lie about someone.
(d) Contemplated suicide.

4. What is it logical to infer about the church women who are wearing red?
(a) They are collecting the offering.
(b) They are ushers.
(c) They are worship leaders.
(d) They are the choir.

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

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. In what religion are the High Holy Days a sacred time?

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

4. Why are rams' horns being blown all around the city?

5. What detail does the story give about the shape of the tape on the windows?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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 contradiction does Davis's first sentence introduce?

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

8. 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?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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