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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the only way an asymmetrical relationship to work?
(a) If one partner exerts power over the other.
(b) If each partner gives of themselves openly and willingly.
(c) If both partners take what they need from the other.
(d) If both partners work individually to achieve their own happiness.

2. In the past, what was valued above all else in one's life?
(a) Stability.
(b) Wealth.
(c) Happiness.
(d) Religion.

3. What is Mrs. Erickson's first name?
(a) Julie.
(b) Janet.
(c) Joan.
(d) Jane.

4. Which of the women Mary interviewed is the oldest woman in the book?
(a) Alice.
(b) Ellen.
(c) Johnnetta.
(d) Joan.

5. Throughout the course of the book, how many women's lives will be studied?
(a) Six.
(b) Seven.
(c) Four.
(d) Five.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whose memoir was Mary working on when she first met Ellen in 1983?

2. What does it mean to "compose a life"?

3. According to Bateson, which of the following forces adds the most stress to marriages?

4. What does Johnnetta say asking someone to change curriculum is like?

5. Which of the women was never an immigrant?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mary use the metaphor of a "crazy quilt" to explain society?

2. How did Johnnetta use her academic experience to change the definition of what it meant to live "as a black woman"?

3. What struggles did Mary encounter when interviewing her four friends for this book?

4. How did Johnnetta's experiences in Cuba change her opinion of race and society?

5. What two significant events happened when "The Cosby Show" came to film at Spelman University where Johnnetta works?

6. What does it mean to Mary to live in "a life in flux", and how did this affect her choosing of which women would appear in the book?

7. What does Bateson believe is the next big step for humanity across the world?

8. According to Bateson, how do today's values for a "good life" differ from traditional values?

9. What conclusion does Mary come to about the success of relationships in academia?

10. How did Johnnetta's relationship with her husband change after they moved to Africa?

(see the answer keys)

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