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

2. How is the narrator's lover's behavior described at the start of the story?

3. What does the narrator note about his lover as he looks at her in bed when he first wakes?

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

5. Why does the narrator decide against kissing his lover's eyelids as he watches her sleep?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does the narrator note about his lover's skin when he talks about waking up and looking at her?

4. After including the entire day he and his lover spend together and all the bits that add up, how much does he say he has spent per hour?

5. 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?

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

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

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

10. The narrator describes a moment in bed when his lover talked nonstop late into the night, her mouth close to his ear. How did he feel during that time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay exploring how the story would change if written from the lover's point of view. What information might be gained or lost? How might the story's themes change?

Essay Topic 2

Though there is no direct dialogue in "Break it Down," the narrator reflects on two conversations between himself and his lover. What were these conversions? What significance do they hold? Why might the author have chosen to include these?

Essay Topic 3

Examine how memory plays a part in the plot of "Break it Down."

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