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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. In the story's opening sentence, what is implied about the main character's writing?
(a) Her readers are gradually deserting her.
(b) She does not deserve the praise she has gotten.
(c) More than one of her stories is uninteresting.
(d) She is losing interest in her career.

2. In what religion are the High Holy Days a sacred time?
(a) Judaism.
(b) Islam.
(c) Hinduism.
(d) Christianity.

3. What detail in the description of the man's bedroom indicates how close the hurricane is getting?
(a) The flickering electricity.
(b) The television weather forecast.
(c) The drawn blinds.
(d) The windows rattling.

4. Who is with the landlady when the landlady is talking about the mayor?
(a) No one.
(b) The main character.
(c) The mail carrier.
(d) The landlady's son.

5. How does the woman realize her study of religion has made her feel?
(a) Confused.
(b) Peaceful.
(c) Guilty.
(d) Energized.

Short Answer Questions

1. For the majority of the story, what tone does the narrator adopt?

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

3. 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)?

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

5. What does the narrator say "usually promises to be interesting" (19)?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. 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?

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

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

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

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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