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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the first speaker at the meeting Didion covers in "Getting Serenity" addicted to?
(a) BlackJack.
(b) Heroin.
(c) Draw-poker.
(d) Vodka.

2. Though Didion agrees that writing in underground newspapers is often "amateurish and badly written," she disagrees with what sentiment?
(a) That they are boring.
(b) That they are unnecessary.
(c) That they are interesting.
(d) That they are biased.

3. Didion uses and example from what underground paper at the end of her essay "Alicia and the Underground Press"?
(a) The Wall Street Journal.
(b) The Berkeley Barb.
(c) The East Village Voice.
(d) The Free Press.

4. In "Pretty Nancy," what does Joan say Nancy's father did for work?
(a) He was a politician.
(b) He was a neurosurgeon.
(c) He was a musician.
(d) He was a schoolteacher.

5. What does Didion say she associates that word serenity with in "Getting Serenity"?
(a) Joy.
(b) Peace.
(c) Death.
(d) Gardening.

6. Who is signed as the Director of Admissions on the rejection letter Joan Didion discusses in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?
(a) Rixford K. Snyder.
(b) Redford K. Barboza.
(c) Robert J. Snider.
(d) Rex P. Smith.

7. Who is the author of Let Me Tell You What I Mean?
(a) Alicia Didion.
(b) Martha Stewart.
(c) Ernest Hemingway.
(d) Joan Didion.

8. How many nights does one of the speakers say he has been free from his addiction in "Getting Serenity"?
(a) 365.
(b) 87.
(c) 1,223.
(d) 13.

9. One meeting attendee in "Getting Serenity" says his idea is getting what?
(a) Sober.
(b) A job.
(c) Serenity.
(d) Married.

10. According to Didion in "A Trip to Xanadu," in what year did San Simeon become a state monument?
(a) 1958.
(b) 1985.
(c) 1979.
(d) 2020.

11. What are the underground newspapers Didion describes in "Alicia and the Underground Press" able to do that mainstream papers are not?
(a) They are able to speak indirectly to the reader.
(b) They are able to sway the reader's opinion.
(c) They are able to get through to the readers.
(d) They are able to contain their bias.

12. In "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice," Joan dates a man who aspires to be what?
(a) An artist.
(b) A pro-golfer.
(c) A politician.
(d) A pro-wrestler.

13. In what year was Skip active in the 101st Airborne in "Fathers, Sons, Screaming Eagles"?
(a) 1919.
(b) 1944.
(c) 1964.
(d) 1958.

14. Where is Alicia from "Alicia and the Underground Press" from?
(a) Anchorage.
(b) Minneapolis.
(c) Ann Arbor.
(d) Detroit.

15. What type of meeting does Didion cover in "Getting Serenity"?
(a) AlAnon.
(b) Alcoholic's Anonymous.
(c) Gambler's Anonymous.
(d) Narcotic's Anonymous.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is one of the newspapers that the author lists as one of the few that do not make her feel as though "the oxygen has been cut off from [her] brain tissue" (20)?

2. What grade does Joan's friend get on the essay she wrote for him in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?

3. Who does Didion say mainstream writers dine with at the end of "Alicia and the Underground Press"?

4. What grade does Joan get on the essay she wrote for her friend in "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice"?

5. One of the meeting attendees, Frank L., has been going to meetings for six years and on the night Joan attended had not placed a bet in how long?

(see the answer keys)

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