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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. On her train ride, what does the woman realize she has not given much thought to?
2. For what reason, besides that "there may not be enough to tell about him," does the woman think that the man might not be the right "center" for her story (20)?
3. What detail of the woman's train ride reinforces the motif of things that come close to happening but do not actually happen?
4. For the majority of the story, what tone does the narrator adopt?
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)?
Short Essay Questions
1. What contradiction does Davis's first sentence introduce?
2. In the end of "The Center of the Story," what does the woman realize about the emptiness at the center of her story?
3. When the woman is riding the train, after the hurricane has passed, what two realizations does she come to?
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 paradox related to religion does the woman encounter in writing her story?
6. 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?
7. What is the woman's story about, and what is its major flaw?
8. What did the woman originally begin her story with that she later decides to edit out?
9. What happens when the woman visits a Baptist church?
10. Why does the woman watch the news so often, and what does she hear on the news that makes her feel exicted?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay that analyzes the significance of the fly that the writer ends up spending her time watching at the Baptist church. Support your essay with evidence from the text, and be sure to cite any outside sources in MLA format.
Essay Topic 2
Write an essay that affirms, refutes, or qualifies the following statement: "The metafictional nature of 'The Center of the Story' means that its author, Lydia Davis, functions as a sort of 'ghost' character who, though never openly discussed, participates in the meaning of the story through its construction." Support your claims with evidence from the text.
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay that analyzes how and why Davis uses an absolute minimum of details to create the story's setting. Support your claims with evidence from the text.
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This section contains 1,035 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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