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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 1.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did an inchworm search for in a panic in Chapter 1?
(a) A way in which to lift its hind legs to its front legs.
(b) The next part of a blade of grass it was climbing.
(c) A caterpillar.
(d) Its front legs.

2. What happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut one morning in April, 1987?
(a) A writer was killed.
(b) A Rabbi went to prayers.
(c) A building collapsed.
(d) The author sustained a hairline fracture.

3. What is needed in the world more than another excellent manuscript, as far as Dillard is concerned?
(a) Bees.
(b) Pollen.
(c) Honey.
(d) Shoes.

4. When Dillard relays a story about a cabdriver singing a boring song, why did the driver sing it twice?
(a) It had taken him a long time to get it right.
(b) He was stalling for time.
(c) He wanted to bore the author.
(d) It was a throw-away song.

5. What question does Dillard say a writer must ask when considering random scenes that come to mind?
(a) Should I write everything I think of?
(b) Do I want to expose these scenes to the light?
(c) How many scenes do I need to write?
(d) Is writing the same as film exposure?

Short Answer Questions

1. Who once said, "Which is the work in which he hasn't surrendered, under dire difficulty, the best thing he meant to have kept"?

2. Who does Dillard say that she believes to be one of the most prolific writers who has ever lived?

3. What animal, according to Dillard, is an analogy for characters in a writer's book "taking over"?

4. What do experienced writers urge young men and women to learn, according to Chapter 1?

5. Saint-Pol-Roux used to hang what sign on his door while he slept?

(see the answer key)

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