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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What is the first priority of the ambulance attendant when he arrives?
(a) To try to give the woman CPR.
(b) To demand that the woman be covered up.
(c) To see if the baby is also deceased.
(d) To ask whether Gin and the narrator know the woman's name.

3. In Gin's dream about the beach, why has the narrator left her alone?
(a) He is trying to help find a lost child.
(b) After they have sex, he loses interest in her.
(c) He has gone to get some mustard.
(d) They have had a big fight.

4. What does Gin believe is true about the dead woman on the beach?
(a) She was an omen.
(b) Her death was accidental.
(c) Gin and the narrator could have saved her.
(d) She was sent by God.

5. What mood do the diction and details included in the scene where the police leave their cars and enter the water create?
(a) Inflammatory.
(b) Factual.
(c) Reverent.
(d) Frantic.

6. To what does the narrator compare the other lovers on the beach?
(a) Fallen soldiers.
(b) Abandoned mannequins.
(c) Sleeping dolls.
(d) Crash-test dummies.

7. Which of the following is one of the places where the narrator and Gin go to try to resume their attempts at intimacy after the incident at the beach?
(a) A party in the outer suburbs.
(b) The balcony of the Clark Theater.
(c) The narrator's best friend's house.
(d) Gin's grandmother's house.

8. On page 243, there is a reference to "Casanova." Why is this historical figure mentioned?
(a) He was a legendary lover.
(b) He was a groundbreaking psychiatrist.
(c) He was a priest who argued that premarital sex is not a mortal sin.
(d) He was a poet who wrote about the nobility of faithfulness.

9. Why does Gin tell the narrator "Stop" when they are just about to have sex (236)?
(a) The narrator's condom has fallen off.
(b) She sees the police lights.
(c) She sees something in the water.
(d) She has changed her mind about having sex.

10. 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) Cups.
(b) Fruit.
(c) A garden.
(d) Water.

11. On the night when he realizes that their relationship is over, what does the narrator realize he really wants from Gin?
(a) For her to get over the incident on the beach.
(b) For her to apologize to him.
(c) For her to stay away from him.
(d) For her to like him again.

12. To what British author does the narrator ironically compare himself near the end of the story?
(a) H. G. Wells.
(b) D. H. Lawrence.
(c) Rudyard Kipling.
(d) James Joyce.

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

14. On page 234, which of the following terms does the narrator use to describe the sunset?
(a) "Rose rapture."
(b) "Pink peace."
(c) "Restless rose."
(d) "Panorama pink."

15. 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) Acerbic.
(b) Fatalistic.
(c) Ironic.
(d) Bemused.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. Who is the author of "We Didn't"?

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

5. What does Gin mean when she tells the narrator that she knows the dead woman?

(see the answer keys)

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