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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 Eight: The Republic, what did the sign on the fountain say according to Debra?

2. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, where does Deborah say the Eurostar went?

3. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Blueish Darkness, what does Deborah say she got her mother on her mother's deathbed?

4. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Blueish Darkness, what does Deborah say is her mother's background?

5. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, who does Deborah say she oversaw in a Boston hotel?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, what possession from her mother does Deborah say she kept? What touched her most 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 Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say her friend told her about her husband? What did Deborah muse about this?

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

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

6. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, how does Deborah say she felt after her mother's death? What did she ride instead of an e-bike?

7. 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?

8. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what of Deborah's old house items does she say Clara picked up, and what does Clara say about them? What metaphor does she say Clara apply to this?

9. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Bluish Darkness, what meeting does Deborah say she went to? How did she feel at the meeting?

10. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say Clara thought of Deborah's life? What does Deborah say she thought of this?

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

At the end of Chapter Three, Levy says, "Most children who grow up in that story will struggle, along with everyone else to compose another one" (13).

Consider how Levy composes herself in her life. What does she struggle with in her composition in the autobiography? How is the act of composition not a solitary act, both in the quote and her autobiography but a composition together? Who then helps Levy compose herself, as her patriarchal story falls apart, and what composition does each of these characters add? Consider why she is writing this autobiography and how this story is not only for others, but also for herself.

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