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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 was happening in the unnamed narrator's life when her newly-divorced friend Laura moved in with the unnamed narrator's parents?
(a) She was trying to get a new job.
(b) She and her husband were selling their home.
(c) She was trying to have a baby with her husband.
(d) She was going to college.

2. The tenant stated that the graduate student dated the undergraduate for how long before he raped her at a party?
(a) 2 months.
(b) 6 months.
(c) 3 months.
(d) 2 weeks.

3. On what part of the unnamed narrator's body did Artemisia place her hand, as described at the end of Italy, 2000?
(a) Her shoulder.
(b) Her head.
(c) Her knee.
(d) Her back.

4. Artemisia's advice to the unnamed narrator was that children crave what?
(a) Boundaries.
(b) Independence.
(c) Disapproval.
(d) Affection.

5. The unnamed narrator reflects in Los Angeles, 2011 that "every confidence is a kind of" (65) what?
(a) Plea.
(b) Manipulation.
(c) Lie.
(d) Request.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the opening of the section entitled San Francisco, 2010, the first exhibition of what kind of artist was being shown?

2. Artemisia and Pablo were originally from which country?

3. In what capacity did the unnamed narrator work for her friend Camila's family in the summer of 2000?

4. Artemisia told the unnamed narrator that Virgilio had committed what crime against her?

5. Laura told the unnamed narrator that for a man, "telling people what you want makes you" (60) what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss an instance when Popkey uses the second person point of view to connect with the reader.

2. Discuss the epigraph Miranda Popkey includes prior to the start of the novel Topics of Conversation.

3. Describe the type of humor Popkey often uses within Topics of Conversation and provide an example.

4. How does the unnamed narrator feel about the truth and lies, according to her statements in Los Angeles, 2011?

5. What was the outcome of the tenant's story in the section entitled Ann Arbor, 2002?

6. For what reason was the narrator in Italy in the summer of 2000?

7. What was the subject of the Swedish artist's creations, according to the unnnamed narrator?

8. How does the unnamed narrator define "female pain" (43) and what expertise does she have in this subject?

9. Describe the interactive element of the Swedish artist's exhibition.

10. For what reason does the unnamed narrator use a hedge maze as a metaphor for Artemisia's life?

(see the answer keys)

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