View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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 stay away from him.
(b) For her to get over the incident on the beach.
(c) For her to apologize to him.
(d) For her to like him again.

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

3. What kind of blanket does Gin bring to the beach?
(a) An army blanket.
(b) A picnic blanket.
(c) Her grandmother's quilt.
(d) A Navajo blanket.

4. 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) Frantic.
(c) Factual.
(d) Reverent.

5. 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) Remove their hats and bow their heads.
(d) Look at Gin uncomfortably.

Short Answer Questions

1. On page 243, there is a reference to "Casanova." Why is this historical figure mentioned?

2. What is the rhetorical purpose of the anaphora in the narrator's description of the Gold Coast residents having sex?

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

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the relationship of the story's title to the Amichai poem excerpt used as an epigraph.

2. On the night in the lover's lane toward the end of the story, what does the narrator realize about his relationship with Gin?

3. What scenario does Gin keep thinking about after the night on Oak Street Beach?

4. What is the rhetorical purpose of the narrator's comments about the "bloodless way in which a young man discards his own virginity" (235)?

5. What is foreshadowed by the page 233 description of their "lover's lane"?

6. What do the first paragraph's details about the father's car convey about the family's social class?

7. When the narrator and Gin are on the beach, what does the narrator imagine the people along the Gold Coast doing, and what thematic ideas does his description convey?

8. What does Gin dream about a baby in the water, and what does she believe her dream means?

9. On page 233, the narrator describes the girlfriend's mother's car as having "a rosary twined [around] the rearview mirror like a beaded, black snake with silver, cruciform fangs." Describe the tone of this image and explain how it is related to the narrator's later description of unbuttoning his girlfriend's shirt.

10. What plot events--one immediate and one later--are foreshadowed by the narrator's description of "the bodies of lovers...visible in lightning flashes, scattered like the fallen on a battlefield" (234)?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,276 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample