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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapters 6 and 7.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What puzzles Styron about Camus's book, "The Fall"?
(a) The title didn't fit the story.
(b) That the lawyer/narrator would want to kill himself.
(c) It was written so brilliantly though Camus was depressed.
(d) It was a good narrative of what a depressed person experiences.

2. Which group of people does depression never happen to?
(a) Older people who have gotten a grasp on life.
(b) Mothers who enjoy their role.
(c) None are excluded; it attacks all groups.
(d) People younger than their teens.

3. What does Styron want us to understand about those who commit suicide?
(a) That they had no other way to escape.
(b) That secrecy and shame are not the right reaction.
(c) That they were always good writers.
(d) That they were weak and couldn't handle pain.

4. Which novel character does Styron compare himself with?
(a) Rhett Butler from "Gone With the Wind."
(b) Emma Bovary from "Madame Bovary."
(c) Lennie from "Of Mice and Men."
(d) Captain Ahab from "Moby Dick."

5. Why does Styron say that physical symptoms accompany depression?
(a) Illness leads to depression.
(b) The mind can better accept that there is a physical cause than a mental one.
(c) Depressed people are clumsy and suffer several injuries.
(d) Depressed persons have more illnesses.

Short Answer Questions

1. What two people does Styron think of while leaving Paris?

2. According to Styron, what do people closest to those who commit suicide often do?

3. What is a common occurrence in people planning suicide?

4. How old was Styron when he published his first novel?

5. What is the hardest piece of writing Styron attempted during his depression?

(see the answer key)

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