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

2. Artemisia's advice to the unnamed narrator was that children crave what?

3. Laura said that Dylan's story about his childhood had made her think he was taking what action in regard to intimacy?

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

5. The unnamed narrator recalls wondering "what it would feel like to push" which character "over the edge" (60) of the abyss?

Short Essay Questions

1. What emotion does the unnamed narrator name as one that is difficult for women to express?

2. How does the unnamed narrator explain her impulse to kiss Artemisia near the end of the section called Italy, 2000?

3. At the end of the section entitled Los Angeles, 2011, the unnamed narrator describes an act she took with a teapot. What was it?

4. How does the unnamed narrator feel about society's understanding of "the woman as object" versus "the woman as subject" (45)?

5. How did the unnamed narrator feel about the dissolution of Laura's marriage?

6. What distinction does the unnamed narrator make between "the woman as object" and "the woman as subject" (45)?

7. How did the unnamed narrator view Artemisia during the trip to Italy in 2000 and why?

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

9. Describe the four characters featured at the center of the gathering in Ann Arbor, 2002.

10. For what reason did the unnamed narrator see little of Camila during the trip to Italy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Popkey’s novel Topics of Conversation. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Popkey's messages about motherhood within the text Topics of Conversation.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Popkey's purpose for juxtaposing at least two different locations in a particular way within the text of Topics of Conversation.

(see the answer keys)

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