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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 color is the light in the man's bedroom?
(a) Blue.
(b) Grey.
(c) Purple.
(d) Yellow.
2. 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) Personification.
(b) Allusion.
(c) Allegory.
(d) Simile.
3. 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 she wanted to use Biblical allusions in her writing.
(d) Because it was the High Holy Days.
4. Who is the author of "The Center of the Story"?
(a) Lydia Davis.
(b) Maile Chapman.
(c) Judith Frank.
(d) Doris Betts.
5. Why does the man in the story feel so ill?
(a) He has cancer.
(b) He has food poisoning.
(c) He is having a heart attack.
(d) He has the flu.
Short Answer Questions
1. Why does the main character find that the story she is working on is not an easy one to write?
2. Who is "thinking of writing a letter to the President" (20)?
3. What is it logical to infer about the church women who are wearing red?
4. What detail does the story give about the shape of the tape on the windows?
5. For the majority of the story, what tone does the narrator adopt?
Short Essay Questions
1. What paradox related to religion does the woman encounter in writing her story?
2. Why does the woman watch the news so often, and what does she hear on the news that makes her feel exicted?
3. What contradiction does Davis's first sentence introduce?
4. Why does the man in the main character's story think that he is dying, and what does he do about it?
5. What happens when the woman visits a Baptist church?
6. How is the story that the woman is writing similar to the earth and different from a hurricane?
7. Explain what the "yellow pall" is and what things in Davis's story it is attached to.
8. What arguments for and against including the newscasters in her story does the woman entertain?
9. What is the woman's story about, and what is its major flaw?
10. In the end of "The Center of the Story," what does the woman realize about the emptiness at the center of her story?
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This section contains 959 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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