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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 reservations did the narrator's father have about Amanda?

2. Why did Amanda become a model?

3. Who is Alex Hardy?

4. Upon arriving at his apartment, what does the narrator realize he has forgotten?

5. When the narrator dances with a girl at the club, what does she reveal she has heard about his wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the narrator feel he is so different from the Hasidic Jews he encounters on the train?

2. What point of view does the author write in, and how is it distinguished?

3. Are Vicky and the narrator truly fond of Tad?

4. What began Clara Tillinghast's dislike of the narrator?

5. How does the narrator feel after his date with Vicky?

6. What is the significance of the last three images in the chapter: the Colgate sign, the Statue of Liberty, and the garbage barge?

7. What is worrying the narrator as he begins work on the French article?

8. To whom is the narrator speaking at the beginning of the story?

9. What was Amanda's home life like when she met the narrator?

10. How is the mannequin symbolic of Amanda?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the narrator's plan to crash the fashion show.

1) Why has be decided to make a spectacle of himself in such a way?

2) How does he think Amanda will react to his presence?

3) What makes him uncomfortable about the fashion show, other than his planned interruption?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Vicky and Amanda.

1) What are some of Amanda's qualities? How do they mesh with the narrator's when the two first met?

2) What are some of Vicky's qualities? How are they a match or a mismatch for the narrator?

3) Which relationship is more promising for the narrator---a reconciliation with Amanda or new chapter with Vicky? Which woman is more appropriate for him?

Essay Topic 3

The narrator constantly forgets about Megan--her soda, her bagel, and their lunch date.

1) Why do you think she slips through the cracks of his memory? Does his absentmindedness seem to bother her?

2) Examine the narrator's breakdown after he forgets her bagel. What excuse does he give her? What internal struggle is he having?

3) What are Megan's motives for inviting him over for dinner? Why is she so kind to him?

(see the answer keys)

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