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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. Artemisia told the unnamed narrator that she attended which college at the time she dated Virgilio?

2. The unnamed narrator states that she realized only later that Artemisia had been "trapped in a" what "of her own design" (27)?

3. The tenant stated that the graduate student dated the undergraduate for how long before he raped her at a party?

4. In which subject did the unnamed narrator major for her undergraduate degree?

5. Which character told the unnamed narrator and others a story in Ann Arbor, 2002 about the rape of an undergraduate by a graduate student?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss a moment in the novel when the unnamed narrator hints or states outright that she may be an unreliable narrator.

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

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

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

5. In what way does Popkey send a message about the dangers of complying with patriarchy-fueled gender norms in the section entitled Ann Arbor, 2002?

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

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

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

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

10. What does the telephone symbolize within the section of the novel entitled Italy, 2000?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Popkey’s messages concerning the nature of security. Does the text indicate that it is dangerous or crucial? Choose one adjective and prove its validity using concrete details from the text.

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Popkey's choice to use a first-person narrator to tell the story of the novel Topics of Conversation. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are Popkey’s intended effects on the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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