1. What is the rhetorical purpose of the anaphora in the narrator's description of the Gold Coast residents having sex?
(a) It stresses the similarities between the narrator and these strangers.
(b) It forms an ironic contrast with the story's opening.
(c) It creates increasing tension as the list continues.
(d) It highlights the comic understatement of the narrator's response to the situation.

2. Which detail of the narrator's description of their kisses indicates the passage of time?
(a) The wind.
(b) The Cokes.
(c) The suntan lotion.
(d) The lip gloss.

3. Who asks the narrator and Gin questions as they try to leave the beach?
(a) The police officer with a beer belly.
(b) The police officer with the crew cut.
(c) The ambulance attendant.
(d) Curious onlookers.

4. When the narrator unbuttons the second button on Gin's shirt, what does he see?
(a) A bruise.
(b) A scar.
(c) Her cross.
(d) Her camisole.

5. Which of the following techniques is used in the sentence "How adept we were at fumbling, how perfectly mistimed our timing, how utterly we confused energy with ecstasy" (233)?
(a) Synecdoche.
(b) Polysyndeton.
(c) Antithesis.
(d) Asyndeton.

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in the sentence "On my fingers your slick scent mixed with the coconut musk of the suntan lotion we’d repeatedly smeared over each other's bodies" (234) ?

2. What repetition technique is used in the story's opening paragraph?

3. What is the tone of the narrator's description of people in Gold Coast apartments having sex?

4. What kind of blanket does Gin bring to the beach?

5. What is the detail about how long the narrator has been carrying a condom in his pocket meant to convey?

(see the answer key)

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