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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. What does the narrator know will happen each day he spends with his lover?

2. What is the narrator staring at at the start of "Break it Down"?

3. What word is used to describe the way the narrator's lover responded to his answer to the question she asked him in bed?

4. Who is the author of "Break It Down"?

5. What does the narrator say he becomes afraid of as distance grows between the time spent with his lover and the present?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of questions does the narrator say he begins to ask himself after "the pictures start to go" (25) of his time with his lover?

2. How does the narrator describe his lover's behavior during the time they spend together before making love?

3. What is the narrator trying to break down at the start of the story?

4. What are the feelings the narrator experiences when he starts to lose the feeling of being with his lover?

5. Describe the narrators dream, which he has lying beside his lover.

6. Describe the image of the narrator's love in the coffee shop.

7. Based on what the narrator says he spent in the first few paragraphs, what did he and his lover do during their trip?

8. What surprising question did the narrator's lover ask him in bed one day? How did he respond? What did she think of his response?

9. Why does the narrator choose not to kiss his lover's eyelids as he wants to while he watches her sleep?

10. How do the feelings about the narrator's affair linger after it ends at first?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay exploring Davis's decision to write a story in which the main action is in the past and only revealed through the narrator's reflection. How does this impact the reading? What might this say about the themes of the story? Do you agree with the author's choice?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing Davis's decision to tell the story using alternating point-of-view from the narrator's perspective. How does this impact the reader's understanding of the story's events? Is this effective? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Write a brief essay analyzing the the title "Break it Down." Explore the ways in which this title connects to the themes of the story.

(see the answer keys)

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