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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. How many days after the author's medical procedure does he receive a phone call about his abnormal X-ray telling him to see a neurologist?

2. Of how many square feet is the author's third floor apartment composed?

3. What object does the author encounter along his walk that makes him feel as if it is exists "at once in the present and in various pasts" (66)?

4. The unnamed narrator receives an email from Natali saying that her husband had hurt what part of his body in a fall?

5. What event had the narrator and his agent just celebrated with a fancy dinner in Chelsea?

Short Essay Questions

1. What action by the author comprises the tender moment he experiences with Liza in a taxi in Part Two: The Golden Vanity?

2. Who is Roberto and what are his concerns about the world?

3. Of what type of metafiction is Part Two: The Golden Vanity composed?

4. What event does the author recall at the end of the story "The Golden Vanity," causing him to conclude that the event had never happened?

5. What medical procedure does the author require and why?

6. For what reason is the author so conflicted about the choice "between twilight sedation and local anesthesia" (62)?

7. Who is Alena?

8. Discuss an instance when Lerner uses a simile to provide a vivid image of the setting in "The Golden Vanity."

9. What is the main difference between the unnamed narrator of 10:04 and the character in the unnamed narrator's novel he calls "the author" (61)?

10. In what setting does the opening scene of "The Golden Vanity" take place?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Lerner's purpose for juxtaposing at least two different physical locations in a particular way within the narrative of 10:04.

Essay Topic 2

Examine Lerner’s use of characterization methods to portray the unnamed narrator within the narrative. What effects do these characterization methods have on the themes and messages inherent in 10:04?

Essay Topic 3

Choose an object from 10:04, such as the child-size chair, the museum, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

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