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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Styron's body feel in the beginning of his depression?
(a) Heavy, lethargic, awkward, and bloated.
(b) Energetic, strong, capable, and lively.
(c) Numb, frail, disjointed, and clumsy.
(d) Manic, hyper, shaky, and strange.

2. What is unusual about Styron's visit to Paris?
(a) He doesn't visit anything but the museum.
(b) He doesn't eat anything while he was there.
(c) He refuses to go to a luncheon in his honor.
(d) The bathrooms have bidets in them.

3. Why is Styron so sad about Hoffman's suicide?
(a) He was so valuable to mankind.
(b) He was not really depressed, so why did he commit suicide?
(c) He was such a good writer.
(d) He was so young and vital.

4. Styron agrees with what literary guide's belief?
(a) Man's alienation from other men.
(b) Depression never causes suicide.
(c) Depression always leads to suicide.
(d) All men suffer from deep depression.

5. In Chapter 3, what event causes Styron to more fully explore the relationship between depression and suicide?
(a) His wife left him.
(b) His whole family rejected him.
(c) The suicide of Abbie Hoffman.
(d) Styron sunk deeper into a depressive state.

6. What does Styron say would cause many depression-related suicides?
(a) Lack of medicines to treat depression.
(b) Lack of awareness by others about the intensity of the pain.
(c) Lack of psychiatric treatment protocols.
(d) Lack of moral strength by the depressed person.

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

8. How does Camus's essay influence Stryon's philosophy of life?
(a) It makes him realize mankind's responsibility for the larger world.
(b) It makes him realize depression was a personal thing.
(c) It makes him realize life is too short.
(d) It makes him realize depression could be overcome if the person just cheered himself up.

9. According to Styron, why is the word depression so hard for people to accept?
(a) People can't understand what it means.
(b) It has not been heard of before.
(c) It indicates a weak person.
(d) It is the word for a hole in the ground, which is very demeaning for a name of a major illness.

10. After Primo Levi's suicide, what causes Styron to question the common view that those who commit suicide are weak and inept?
(a) Levi worked out all the time and was very strong.
(b) Levi had survived the Auschwitz and cared for his paralyzed mother.
(c) Levi was such a good writer.
(d) Levi was involved in so many good causes.

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

12. What happens to Styron during his museum visit in Paris?
(a) He finds inspiration for another book.
(b) He begins to feel the late evening lethargy that always descends.
(c) He complains to his wife about the museum the whole time.
(d) He runs out and leaves the group he was with.

13. What symptoms did Jarrell suffer from that caused Styron to believe in Jarrell's suicide?
(a) Black despondency, violent fluctuation of mood, and his deep depression.
(b) He wanted his wife to have money and his insurance would give it to her.
(c) He had a terminal illness and was in pain.
(d) He often mentioned life wasn't worth living.

14. How does Styron feel about his Connecticut farmhouse?
(a) He loves spending time there.
(b) He thinks it needed lots of work.
(c) It feels ominous to him.
(d) He hates the house, preferring Martha's Vineyard.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When is depression at its worst?

2. What characteristic of depression make Styron's memoir limited in benefit?

3. What does Styron want us to understand about those who commit suicide?

4. How old was Levi when he committed his suicide?

5. What is the old term for depression?

(see the answer keys)

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