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

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

3. Where is the woman's landlady from?
(a) Barbados.
(b) Trinidad.
(c) Cuba.
(d) Jamaica.

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

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

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. What is it logical to infer about the church women who are wearing red?

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

4. Why does the man in the story feel so ill?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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