View a FREE sample

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 religious crisis.
(c) A hurricane.
(d) A flood.

2. What detail does the story give about the shape of the tape on the windows?
(a) It is shaped like crosses.
(b) It is shaped like diamonds.
(c) It is shaped like asterisks.
(d) It is shaped like the letter "x."

3. What does the landlady say the mayor gave her?
(a) An award.
(b) Flowers.
(c) Carpet.
(d) A stove.

4. What does the sick man want when he calls the main character?
(a) He wants to apologize for the argument they recently had.
(b) He wants to talk about death and the afterlife.
(c) He wants her advice about whether to go to the hospital.
(d) He wants her to come over and help him.

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) This might not be the right time to tell his story.
(b) The man will be angry that she wrote about him.
(c) There is no real resolution to his story.
(d) She is unclear about how she feels about the man.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the main character find that the story she is working on is not an easy one to write?

2. 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)?

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)?

4. What does the woman think might be preventing her from committing to a center for her story?

5. How does the woman realize her study of religion has made her feel?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 330 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample