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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 passage of time?
(a) Gin's bed and their parents' cars.
(b) The condition of the Rambler and the rosary.
(c) Grass, leaves, and snow.
(d) Light and darkness.

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

3. 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 depict Gin's youth and vulnerability.
(b) To imply that the narrator is not really attracted to Gin.
(c) To convey the narrator's ambiguous sexual orientation.
(d) To create a mood of disgust.

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

5. What does Gin tell the narrator she is afraid of when they are lying on the beach together?
(a) Him leaving her.
(b) Her parents finding out.
(c) Getting pregnant.
(d) Someone seeing them having sex.

6. What happens after the night on the beach, when the narrator senses Gin growing distant while they are kissing?
(a) He tries to tell her jokes to cheer her up.
(b) He tells her she is crazy.
(c) He kisses her harder.
(d) He pretends to feel the same way she does.

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

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

9. 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.

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

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

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

13. 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."

14. What does the narrator see on the street when he is leaving Gin's building on the night of the beach incident?
(a) Gin's blanket.
(b) A condom.
(c) His underwear.
(d) Beach sand.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. On the night when he realizes that their relationship is over, what does the narrator realize he really wants from Gin?

2. On the fall night when the narrator realizes that his relationship with Gin is over, what are they arguing about?

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

4. From the context of page 234, what "apocalypse" is the allusion to the Four Horsemen referring to?

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

(see the answer keys)

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