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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 does Gay say her fat body allows people to erase?

2. What is Gay's favorite cooking show?

3. Why did Gay prefer men's clothing during her twenties?

4. For a long time, Gay only wore what kinds of clothes?

5. How old is Gay at the time she writes Hunger?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gay feel about exercise?

2. In the period of Gay’s life when she drops out of Yale, why does she feel free?

3. What does Gay think about the reality television show The Biggest Loser?

4. Why does Gay say she still watches reality television weight-loss shows even though she hates them?

5. What did Gay say to the young, overweight woman in the dressing room whose mother was mistreating her and why was it important?

6. How does Gay feel when she looks at her friends’ social media posts about doing outdoorsy or athletic things?

7. Why does Gay eventually call her parents and go back home?

8. As Gay is finishing her MA program in creative writing, what are most of the fictional stories she writes about?

9. What is the reason Gay gives for becoming a vegetarian?

10. How does Gay characterize her relationship with Jon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Gay repeatedly uses the word “or” to link two disparate ideas. “I do not know why I turned to food. Or I do” (53). “I hate myself. Or society tells me I am supposed to hate myself” (148). Write an essay exploring Gay’s use of this construction and its effect on her arguments.

Essay Topic 3

Writing has been a positive keystone of Gay’s life from when she was very young. Write an essay analyzing the importance of writing throughout the author’s life, paying particular attention to how it has helped her express and explain her struggles.

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