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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 word from Chapter 1 refers to skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks?
(a) Imperialism.
(b) Antagonism.
(c) Gregarious.
(d) Legerdemain.

2. The author describes her childhood home as being built in a brief moment of wealth from the lumber industry in what year?
(a) 1962.
(b) 1911.
(c) 1798.
(d) 1867.

3. How long prior to his death did Bruce Bechdel's wife ask him for a divorce?
(a) 2 days prior.
(b) 1 week prior.
(c) 2 months prior.
(d) 2 weeks prior.

4. How long before her father's death did Bechdel come out to her parents as gay?
(a) 4 months earlier.
(b) 1 week earlier.
(c) 2 weeks earlier.
(d) 2 months earlier.

5. How does the author describe her father's headstone in Chapter 2?
(a) It is an obelisk.
(b) It is a Catholic cross.
(c) It is a Celtic cross.
(d) It is a star.

Short Answer Questions

1. What film does the author describe her parents taking the family to see when it opened in 1974?

2. How did F. Scott Fitzgerald die?

3. Who is the heroine in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady?

4. What aromas does the author describe her father having smelled of in Chapter 1?

5. Into what war was Bruce Bechdel drafted?

Short Essay Questions

1. What facts are established through the author's exposition in Chapters 1 and 2?

2. How affectionate does the author describe her family when growing up?

3. How does the author describe her impressions of her father's death in Chapter 2?

4. What does the title of Chapter 2, "A Happy Death" allude to?

5. What mythological allusions does the author make in Chapter 1?

6. How does the author describe her parents' first meeting in Chapter 3?

7. What literary allusions does the author make in describing her mother in Chapter 3?

8. How does the author describe her "coming out" to her parents in Chapter 3?

9. What symbolism is related to the Swiss Army knife that appears in Chapter 3?

10. What symbolism does the author illuminate in her father's library in Chapter 3?

(see the answer keys)

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