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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. Where does Alvarez work?

2. What is one of Savvie's boyfriend's annoying habits?

3. What does Kate's boyfriend do for a living?

4. What does a crazy woman do when she realizes she is pregnant again in the story "Difficult Women"?

5. Where are Tricia and her family from?

Short Essay Questions

1. When does the narrator begin to think that Cassie, Jacob's girlfriend, may be smarter than she seems?

2. What do all the women in the narrator's and Tate's "fight club" seem to get out of the experience in "Baby Arm"?

3. What does Kate's elderly landlady tell her in the story "North Country" when she meets her for the first time?

4. How does Tricia judge the clients she cleans houses for in the story "Florida"?

5. Why does Sarah, who goes by Sierra at work, perform at a strip club?

6. Why does Sarah let everyone assume she is white in the story "La Negra Blanca"?

7. Why does the narrator in "The Mark of Cain" decide not to let on that she knows her husband switches places with his twin?

8. Why is Alvarez hesitant to get more involved with Sarah in "La Negra Blanca," even though he adores her?

9. Why does the young, working-class couple watch reality television in the story "Florida"?

10. Why does Bianca agree to go out with Dean and initially start a relationship with him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing why the narrator has such difficulty fully trusting her lover in the story "Strange Gods." Why do you think the narrator finally comes around to accepting her partner's marriage proposal, on her partner's fifth attempt, at the end of the story?

Essay Topic 2

In several of the stories in Difficult Women, Gay briefly references a main character's relationship with parents, but in two stories she focuses on parent-child relationships more fully - "In the Event of My Father's Death" and "A Pat." Write an essay comparing and contrasting how Gay portrays the relationships between her narrators and their parents in each of these stories, citing specific references from each story to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing the metaphors Gay uses in the story "The Sacrifice of Darkness" to explain the desperation and subjugation of the working classes. Cite specific references from the text in your answer.

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