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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is the first line of “Toward the Amaranth Gates of War or Love”?

2. Which of the following does the narrator associate with the headdress of a greedy god?

3. How long does the narrator claim her mother has wept?

4. Behind which of the following does the narrator note her brother marches?

5. On which of the following roads does the narrator stop in “Formication”?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator report her parents seek to become in “As a Consequence of My Brother Stealing All the Lightbulbs”?

2. How does the narrator of “When the Beloved Asks, ‘What Would You Do if You Woke Up and I Was a Shark?’” note answering the question of the title?

3. For what reason does the narrator note having hosted her brother?

4. What reasons does the narrator give for taking her brother to dinner?

5. What hellish vision does the narrator’s mother see in “My Brother at 3 A.M.”?

6. What reaction does the narrator have to her brother appearing as a Judas effigy in “How to Go to Dinner with a Brother on Drugs”?

7. In what ways does the narrator note that she and her siblings are bestial in “Zoology”?

8. In what circumstances does the narrator of “When the Beloved Asks, ‘What Would You Do if You Woke Up and I Was a Shark?’” note having considered the question of the title?

9. What questions does the narrator ask in “Toward the Amaranth Gates of War or Love” (75)?

10. How does the narrator summarize the appearance of her parents’ home in “How to Go to Dinner with a Brother on Drugs”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the collection, the narrator makes reference to fruits of various sources. Explicate the significance of the fruits, generally, and of one fruit, specifically.

Essay Topic 2

Consider the names of several characters (e.g., Guy No-Horse, Mary Busted-Chest, Eve Side-Stealer) in the collection as kennings. Given such a function, what name might be expected of the narrator and her brother? What in the text suggests as much, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

What attitude toward shame does the collection note? What in the text indicates that attitude? How does it do so?

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