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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. What is Gay's cultural background?

2. Where did Gay eventually receive her B.A. degree from?

3. Gay says her lost years began with a specific thing. What was it?

4. Which book series did Gay become obsessed with after her trauma?

5. What kind of surgery does Gay have during her sophomore year of high school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What activity did Gay enjoy in high school that helped her forget her pain?

2. How does Gay feel about the use of BMI (body mass index) measurements?

3. What was Gay's mother’s approach to teaching her children how to cook?

4. How did the boys who raped Gay treat her afterwards?

5. Why did the author gain weight so rapidly once she went to boarding school?

6. How did Gay’s parents react to her weight gain when she came home for Thanksgiving her first year in boarding school?

7. What was Gay's relationship to food like before her rape?

8. What relationship did Gay have with the boy who raped her?

9. Why does Gay say that gaining so much weight made her feel safer?

10. What are some of the reasons Gay gives explaining why Hunger was a difficult book for her to write?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Gay writes about the interplay between obesity and gender, declaring “My fat body empowers people to erase my gender” (256). Write an essay analyzing what she means by this, using specific example from her experiences.

Essay Topic 2

While Gay details her parents’ love and support, she also feels tension with them because of her obesity. Write an essay analyzing the complications and tensions involved in Gay’s relationship with her parents.

Essay Topic 3

Gay does not tell her family about her brutal rape at the age of 12 for many years, and even when she does reveal the truth, she can not discuss it directly with them. Write an essay detailing why Gay found it so difficult to tell her family about her trauma, citing specific examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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