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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: The Center of the Story.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator say "usually promises to be interesting" (19)?
(a) A death.
(b) A flood.
(c) A religious crisis.
(d) A hurricane.

2. Why was the woman reading the Bible during the period she writes about in her story?
(a) Because it was the High Holy Days.
(b) Because she needed comfort during the hurricane.
(c) Because she wanted to know exactly what it said.
(d) Because she wanted to use Biblical allusions in her writing.

3. What technique is used in the sentence: "The story is flat and even, just as the earth seems flat and even when a hurricane is advancing over it" (19)?
(a) Simile.
(b) Personification.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Allegory.

4. For the majority of the story, what tone does the narrator adopt?
(a) Dismissive.
(b) Melancholic.
(c) Objective.
(d) Amused.

5. For what reason, besides that "there may not be enough to tell about him," does the woman think that the man might not be the right "center" for her story (20)?
(a) There is no real resolution to his story.
(b) The man will be angry that she wrote about him.
(c) This might not be the right time to tell his story.
(d) She is unclear about how she feels about the man.

Short Answer Questions

1. What specific Biblical story does the writer focus on?

2. Why does the man in the story feel so ill?

3. What detail does the story give about the shape of the tape on the windows?

4. What technique is used in the sentence: "Outside her apartment, the weather was changing: the wind rose, the branches swayed on the young trees, and the leaves fluttered" (19)?

5. What does the woman suspect that the man believes about his blasphemy?

(see the answer key)

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