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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. What does the narrator speculate that the lightening across the water might be doing?
(a) Making sea glass on Michigan beaches.
(b) Lighting up the paths of far-away freighters.
(c) Chasing the seagulls out of the sky.
(d) Setting Indiana barns on fire.

2. Why does the narrator say that Lake Michigan "became" the Pacific Ocean (235)?
(a) He is experiencing a feeling of being lost in space and time.
(b) The sound of the waves is exaggerated by his excitement.
(c) He is referencing the film From Here to Eternity.
(d) Gin has always imagined losing her virginity on a California beach.

3. In the story's opening, what details are related to the story's epigraph?
(a) Light and darkness.
(b) The condition of the Rambler and the rosary.
(c) Grass, leaves, and snow.
(d) Gin's bed and their parents' cars.

4. After the narrator drops Gin off at her building on the night of the incident at the beach, why does she run back outside and call after him?
(a) She needs to get her blanket back from him.
(b) She want to know if he is going to tell anyone what happened.
(c) She wants to tell him that she loves him.
(d) She wants to know if he needs an umbrella.

5. What is the tone of the narrator's description of people in Gold Coast apartments having sex?
(a) Ghoulish.
(b) Derisive.
(c) Effusive.
(d) Wry.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what British author does the narrator ironically compare himself near the end of the story?

2. What is the rhetorical purpose of the anaphora in the narrator's description of the Gold Coast residents having sex?

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

4. Why does Gin tell the narrator "Stop" when they are just about to have sex (236)?

5. In the story's opening, what details are related to the passage of time?

(see the answer key)

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