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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 does Simon NOT count among the events that occurred directly as a result of the fortune teller's intervention?
(a) His deep connection with Klara.
(b) His dance career.
(c) His relationship with Robert.
(d) His arrival in San Francisco.

2. With whom does Simon begin an affair after the two cruise the Castro together?
(a) Adrian.
(b) Tommy.
(c) Richie.
(d) Robert.

3. What type of business does Saul own?
(a) A tailor and dressmaking business.
(b) A textile factory.
(c) A dry cleaning business.
(d) A convenience store.

4. In what month do the Gold siblings visit the fortune teller?
(a) March.
(b) December.
(c) August.
(d) July.

5. Simon remembers that he had drawn which same-suit cards from the deck during his encounter with the fortune teller?
(a) Four spades.
(b) Four clubs.
(c) Four diamonds.
(d) Four hearts.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Gertie say to Simon on the phone just before she hangs up on him?

2. Who spends the night with Simon in Ward 86 once he is diagnosed with the illness that will come to be known as AIDS?

3. What date does the narrator finally reveal as the one foretold to Simon by the fortune teller?

4. What action does Benny recommend that Simon take after watching him on Simon's first night working at the bar?

5. What does Raj do for a living when Klara runs into him again after ten years?

Short Essay Questions

1. The narrator takes pains to explain that Klara does not share her magic with people in order to deceive them. What is her true reason?

2. What do the Gold children bring to the fortune teller as payment for her services and why?

3. What is Robert's reaction to the AIDS epidemic and how does it differ from Simon's?

4. What is the significance of Klara's feelings about the phenomenon of red tide?

5. Compare Varya's ideas about fortune telling with Ruby Singh's.

6. How is repetition employed within the opening passage of Part Two:Proteus and to what effect?

7. What differences between Robert and Simon does the author depict as those that drive Simon to cheat on Robert?

8. How did the Gold children's maternal grandmother die and why are the children adults before they find out this information?

9. How does the author depict Simon's mixed feelings about his mother's decision to relinquish him at the police station?

10. How does Robert's story about his friend Dante demonstrate the themes of violence and hate?

(see the answer keys)

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