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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. Why does it make more sense to write one big book rather than a collection of stories or essays, in Dillard's opinion?
(a) It does not take as long to write one big book.
(b) You can fit all you possess into a long project.
(c) A cast of characters is easier to work with.
(d) There is more money to be made with a book.

2. What two problems does Dillard say she feels that a writer must solve when writing a book?
(a) Can it be done? and, Can I do it?
(b) Can I keep track of characters? and, What do I name them?
(c) Where is my plot? and, How do I end this?
(d) Can I write each sentence? and, Can I string them together?

3. What did a Dinka believe his own memories and daydreams to be?
(a) Psychologically important.
(b) External to himself.
(c) The meaning of life.
(d) An extension of himself.

4. What damage did the Smith-Corona typewriter do in Chapter 4?
(a) The curtains were set on fire.
(b) The rug got damaged.
(c) The writer's shirt was burned.
(d) The table the typewriter was on collapsed.

5. What does the impulse to save something good for a better place later signify, according to Dillard?
(a) It should be used later.
(b) It should be used now.
(c) It should be hoarded.
(d) It should be forgotten.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did Dillard write that 'People should not feed moralistic animals'?

2. When Dillard lacked sufficient energy for writing one morning in Chapter 3, what does she say she did to try and get it?

3. Who did Dillard get a visit from in Chapter 3 that was eye-awakening for her?

4. Why did Dillard feel that an author must visit her work every day?

5. What did Dillard notice most in the Washington cabin she wrote in?

Short Essay Questions

1. The next-to-last sentence of Chapter 5 reads, 'Shall we go rowing again, we who believe we may indeed row off the edge and fall?' What does this refer to?

2. Why does Dillard say that the life of the mind of a writer is hard to be called "living"?

3. Why does Dillard say that she needed more materials than a pencil and paper in order to write something like a second draft for a thirty-page chapter?

4. Why was a moth trying to gain altitude and ultimately drowning, in Chapter 3?

5. Why does Dillard compare a writer writing a first draft to a Zulu warrior and an Aztec maiden?

6. When Dillard mentions that Thoreau's firewood warmed him twice because he labored to cut his own wood, why does she say that her wood froze her twice?

7. How does Dillard say that she believes a writer must control his or her own energies in order to work?

8. Why does Dillard advise writers not to hoard a good idea for a later place in a book being written or for another book?

9. Why did the island on Haro Strait haunt Dillard?

10. What does Dillard mean in Chapter 5 when she writes, '...instead we watch television and miss the show'?

(see the answer keys)

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