View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the rhetorical purpose of including the detail "the skinny rails of your legs" (235) when the narrator is talking about taking off Gin's bikini bottom?
(a) To convey the narrator's ambiguous sexual orientation.
(b) To imply that the narrator is not really attracted to Gin.
(c) To depict Gin's youth and vulnerability.
(d) To create a mood of disgust.

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

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

4. Gin mentions her "nonna's cottage" (240). Whose cottage is this?
(a) Her sister.
(b) Her mother.
(c) Her grandmother.
(d) Her aunt.

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. What technique is employed in the phrase "How adept we were at fumbling" (233)?
(a) Juxtaposition.
(b) Verbal irony.
(c) Paradox.
(d) Oxymoron.

7. What technique is used in the phrase "the forlorn, deflated Trojan" (238)?
(a) Hyperbole.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Simile.
(d) Personification.

8. To what does the narrator compare Gin's mother's rosary?
(a) A snake.
(b) A belt.
(c) A noose.
(d) A bolo tie.

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

10. When the police examine the woman's body in the light of their flashlights, what does her nakedness and obvious pregnancy cause them to do?
(a) Tell the narrator and Gin to move back.
(b) Cross themselves and say a prayer.
(c) Look at Gin uncomfortably.
(d) Remove their hats and bow their heads.

11. In the light from the squad cars and flashlights, what does the narrator see on the beach as the other couples are running away?
(a) Dead fish.
(b) The condom.
(c) A dead body.
(d) Garbage.

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

13. What technique is evident in the phrase "feverish plucking and twanging, tom-toms, congas, and gongs" (235)?
(a) Hyperbaton.
(b) Double entendre.
(c) Euphony.
(d) Cacophony.

14. What does the narrator compare the dead woman's hair to?
(a) A horse's tail.
(b) Seaweed.
(c) A wig.
(d) Leaves.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. 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)?

2. What detail on page 233 reveals that some time has passed since the events of the story took place?

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

4. Why does the narrator say that Lake Michigan "became" the Pacific Ocean (235)?

5. When the narrator unbuttons the second button on Gin's shirt, what does he see?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 683 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample