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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. What name did the unnamed narrator call herself in the bathroom at the gathering after she thought disparagingly about Sandra's story?

2. What food was John eating as a part of his health kick when the unnamed narrator told him that it would not improve his sperm count or motility?

3. The unnamed narrator describes Fran's speech as being like a what?

4. What activity did the unnamed narrator once rely upon in order to calm her nerves?

5. At which location had Dominique first met Fran, according to the unnamed narrator?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss an element of the unnamed narrator's writing voice that shares qualities with her speaking voice.

2. When the identity of the father of the unnamed narrator's child is finally revealed, who is it?

3. What tactics did the unnamed narrator use to help herself summon enthusiasm about pursuing a pregnancy with John?

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

5. Discuss the stream-of-consciousness style in which Topics of Conversation is written.

6. For what reason did the unnamed narrator make several attempts to commit adultery before she was successful?

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

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

9. How does the unnamed narrator answer her own question about why people confide in her?

10. What act does the unnamed narrator describe as having been attractive due to its promise of "finite pleasure" (180)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss John's role within the events of the novel and explain how his character helps to further develop certain themes inherent in Popkey's novel Topics of Conversation.

(see the answer keys)

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