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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. Who is Hanna's mother?

2. What does Natasha's mother say to her when she tells her what happened to her young son in "Break All the Way Down"?

3. Where does Stephanie's father take her on Saturday mornings in the story "In the Event of my Father's Death"?

4. What is Father Michael Patrick Minty's nickname?

5. What does the narrator's lover do for a living in "Bone Density"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Teresa tell Stephanie that surprises her at the end of the story "In the Event of My Father's Death"?

2. Why does Hanna drive to the college town nearby and invite sexual encounters with college-aged boys in secret?

3. Why did Father Michael Patrick Minty not really know his father in the story" Bad Priest"?

4. How did Hanna and Laura first become friends?

5. What does Father Michael realize at the end of "Bad Priest" about his mother's knowledge of his private life?

6. Why does the narrator's mother in the story "A Pat" tell her to befriend the saddest and most desperate people?

7. Why does the narrator in "Open Marriage" seem confident her husband will not follow through on his aspirations to have affairs with other women?

8. What does the narrator of "Bone Density" find in her husband's suitcase that confirms her knowledge that he is having an affair?

9. What does the reader learn about the stone thrower through the eyes of his glass wife at the end of the story?

10. Why is Natasha in "Break All the Way Down" repelled by dogs?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing the tone Gay strikes in the story "I am a Knife." In this story, the narrator has suffered the traumatic loss of a baby and is later called upon to help save her twin sister's baby during childbirth, and there is a moment when it is unclear whether the narrator is worthy of the trust her twin sister places in her as the narrator holds her life in her hands. Cite specific references to the text in explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing why the stone-thrower's wife, the unnamed glass woman, decides not to confront the stone-thrower about his ongoing affair with his mistress. Cite specific references from the story to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing what you think the narrator's source of power and control over her husband in the story "Open Marriage" seems to be. Why does the narrator seem so completely unconcerned when her husband suggests they engage in an open marriage?

(see the answer keys)

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