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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "We Didn't".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the simile that the narrator uses when he describes holding Gin's breasts in his hands on page 234, to what does he compare her breasts?
(a) Fruit.
(b) Cups.
(c) Water.
(d) A garden.

2. From the context of page 234, what "apocalypse" is the allusion to the Four Horsemen referring to?
(a) Global pandemic.
(b) Water scarcity.
(c) Climate change.
(d) Nuclear annihilation.

3. On the fall night when the narrator realizes that his relationship with Gin is over, what are they arguing about?
(a) Whether they will ever have sex.
(b) The drowned woman.
(c) A series of Elvis movies they saw at a drive-in.
(d) A female poet who has committed suicide.

4. What is the narrator's tone when he recalls, "I was trying to calm your terror with reassuring phrases such as 'Holy shit! I don’t fucking believe this!'” (236)?
(a) Bemused.
(b) Ironic.
(c) Fatalistic.
(d) Acerbic.

5. What is the title of the poem used as an epigraph for this story?
(a) "The Mirror."
(b) "In Darkness and in Light."
(c) "We Did It."
(d) "Water."

Short Answer Questions

1. To what does the narrator compare the other lovers on the beach?

2. In Gin's dream about the beach, why has the narrator left her alone?

3. In the story's opening, what details are related to the characters' youth?

4. While he is on the beach, what does the narrator imagine the couples in the high-rises around them are wearing?

5. What technique is used in the phrase "the forlorn, deflated Trojan" (238)?

(see the answer key)

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