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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. In Chapter Five: Gravity, what does Deborah say she stopped at as she walked from her shed to her home?

2. In Chapter Three: Nets, what does Deborah say her neighbor saw her packing?

3. In Chapter Six: The Body Electric, what does Deborah say her male friend's new wife's name?

4. In Chapter Five: Gravity, what was the issue Deborah entered the chapter with?

5. In Chapter One: The Big Silver, what does Deborah say was the name of the boat the young woman had been on?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter Three: Nets, what does Deborah say her neighbor asked about as Deborah had packed up? What had Deborah's family members used these items for?

2. In Chapter One: The Big Silver, what does Deborah say the young woman talked about? What did the man say in response?

3. In Chapter Five: Gravity, what did Deborah say she started going through? What does she say the paragraph she read reminded her of?

4. In Chapter Two: The Tempest, what does Deborah say she had seen in Brazil? How had she applied this to her divorcee life?

5. In Chapter Two: The Tempest, what did Deborah say she noticed about her male friends and colleagues? What did this lead her to question?

6. In Chapter Four: Living in Yellow, what does Deborah write about her supporting her family in this time? What does she say about her freedom?

7. In Chapter Five: Gravity, what piece of old writing does Deborah say she compared herself to?

8. In Chapter Six: The Body Electric, who does Deborah say she was annoyed by? Why did this person annoy her this way?

9. In Chapter Six: The Body Electric, what metaphor from earlier in the book did Deborah apply to the party she went to? How did she apply this metaphor to women?

10. In Chapter Two: The Tempest, what does Deborah say she resented most about her divorce? How does she say she thought of her unhappiness?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Deborah and Clara compare their lives to their mothers' lives in generations past where women stayed at home and had children. Deborah compares herself to other women past, such as Simon de Beauvoir. How do these different women fight for their freedoms within the constraints of their societies? How do they negotiate freedom, and what cost do they pay for the freedoms they have? Choose at least five women in the autobiography to compare and align for this paper.

Essay Topic 2

Cost of Living ends:

"The writing you are reading now is made from the cost of living and it is made from digital ink" (134).

What is "the cost of living"? What is it for Deborah throughout the book? Do different people from the book have different definitions of what the cost is? Use several examples to craft your argument of what the cost really is.

Essay Topic 3

Each of the chapters of Cost of Living has distinct titles, and each of these titles are tied together in segments of two or three themes throughout. Choose one of these segments of two or three chapters and examine how the titles are woven together, and how the titles reflect the content of the chapters. Connect what you find about the symbolism and the metaphor to the message of the book.

(see the answer keys)

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