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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 Eleven: Footsteps in the House, where does Deborah say the Eurostar went?

2. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say Clara said about shortening the past?

3. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, how does Deborah say her mother would float?

4. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Blueish Darkness, what does Deborah say her mother taught her?

5. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say Simone had refused to do with Algren?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say her friend told her about her husband? What did Deborah muse about this?

2. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say she told Clara about dating again? How does she say Clara responded?

3. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, why does Deborah say she thought her sense of direction was lost? How does she say this related to her mother?

4. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Bluish Darkness, what does Deborah say she needed to compose? How does she apply this as a metaphor?

5. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, who does Deborah say she met? What did Deborah advise?

6. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, what does Deborah say happened when she read her book out loud at a festival in Berlin?

7. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, where does Deborah say she went and why? What does she say this reminded her of?

8. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, what are the two quotes that Deborah cites at the end of the chapter? How do they apply to her marriage?

9. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, where does Deborah say her mother grew up? What did her mother teach her in old age?

10. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say Simone de Beauvoir fought against so strongly? Who did she refuse in this quest?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Levvy says: "I was more interested in a major unwritten female character" (123).

Does the autobiography write this female character? If so, what does it write? If not, where does it fall short? How are Deborah and the other women in the book either this unwritten female character or different variations of her? How, according to the book, does it become possible to write the unwritten?

Essay Topic 2

The debate of minor versus major character is prominent in the Cost of Living as Deborah assigns minor and major characterization both to her characters and the people in her life. Who, in your opinion, is a minor character, and who is a major character in the autobiography? Why is it this way? How has the author arranged characterization of her life to achieve the kind of minorization and majorization, the shifts in the patriarchy's story, that she has wanted to achieve?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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