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

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

2. How has the narrator and Gin's relationship changed by the end of the summer?
(a) They argue constantly about trivial things.
(b) Gin is not comfortable being alone with the narrator.
(c) The narrator has begun to notice other girls in his neighborhood.
(d) Gin cries whenever the narrator tries to kiss her.

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

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

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

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

7. What does Gin mean when she tells the narrator that she knows the dead woman?
(a) The woman was from her neighborhood.
(b) The woman was not much older than Gin.
(c) The woman is a distant relative of Gin's.
(d) She dreams about the woman.

8. Who is the author of "We Didn't"?
(a) Perry Katzek.
(b) Vincent Kowalski.
(c) Stuart Dybek.
(d) Yehuda Amichai.

9. What kind of buildings are on the lovers' lane?
(a) Giant warehouses.
(b) Run-down cottages.
(c) Bars and strip clubs.
(d) Abandoned factories.

10. 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.

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

12. What technique is employed in the phrase "and justice for all" (234)?
(a) Litotes.
(b) Verbal irony.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Metaphor.

13. What repetition technique is used in the story's opening paragraph?
(a) Antanaclasis.
(b) Epistrophe.
(c) Epizeuxis.
(d) Anaphora.

14. 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.

15. What is the detail about how long the narrator has been carrying a condom in his pocket meant to convey?
(a) His responsible attitude.
(b) His eagerness to have sex with Gin.
(c) His blindness to Gin's feelings.
(d) His relative experience compared to Gin.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the title of the poem used as an epigraph for this story?

2. On page 234, which of the following terms does the narrator use to describe the sunset?

3. What happens after the night on the beach, when the narrator senses Gin growing distant while they are kissing?

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

5. What does Gin believe is true about the dead woman on the beach?

(see the answer keys)

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