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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. On what day of the week does the section entitled Santa Barbara, 2016 take place?

2. What kind of new lifestyle was John beginning at the time discussed in San Francisco, 2012?

3. What type of beverage did the unnamed narrator consider throwing out the window at the end of Los Angeles, 2012?

4. What is NOT one of the feelings the unnamed narrator had toward John after she confessed to her infidelity?

5. In what period of time was the unnamed narrator an adolescent?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the unnamed narrator always feel about the prospect of having a baby?

2. What method did the unnamed narrator eventually use to end her marriage and why?

3. Describe the difference between the unnamed narrator's view of therapy in 2014 and her current view.

4. For what reason did the unnamed narrator decide not to become friends with Dominique?

5. What object does the unnamed narrator's mother give to her in the section entitled Los Angeles, 2012 and why?

6. How does Popkey employ a metaphor to indicate the pain the unnamed narrator caused John with her infidelity?

7. In what way does Popkey purposely mislead the reader at the start of the section called San Francisco, 2012?

8. What are the contents of the story that the woman in Santa Barbara told the unnamed narrator as they swam in the ocean?

9. In what specific setting does the story told by the unnamed narrator in the section entitled Santa Barbara, 2016 take place?

10. In what way does the unnamed narrator find her previous view of intimacy problematic?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the ways in which the themes of adaptability and resignation appear within Popkey’s novel Topics of Conversation. What message is Popkey sending about these two themes over the course of the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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.

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This section contains 1,099 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample