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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the story's opening sentence, what is implied about the main character's writing?
(a) She is losing interest in her career.
(b) She does not deserve the praise she has gotten.
(c) More than one of her stories is uninteresting.
(d) Her readers are gradually deserting her.

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

3. Why does the main character find that the story she is working on is not an easy one to write?
(a) It is about friendship.
(b) It is about religion.
(c) It is about death.
(d) It is about fear.

4. What detail in the description of the man's bedroom indicates how close the hurricane is getting?
(a) The drawn blinds.
(b) The flickering electricity.
(c) The television weather forecast.
(d) The windows rattling.

5. In what religion are the High Holy Days a sacred time?
(a) Islam.
(b) Hinduism.
(c) Christianity.
(d) Judaism.

6. What specific Biblical story does the writer focus on?
(a) The Trials of Job.
(b) Jonah and the Great Fish.
(c) Noah's Ark.
(d) The Garden of Eden.

7. What does the woman suspect that the man believes about his blasphemy?
(a) It is the reason she is angry at him.
(b) It is no one's business but his own.
(c) It caused the hurricane.
(d) It caused his illness.

8. 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.

9. 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)?
(a) Non sequitur.
(b) Analogy.
(c) Juxtaposition.
(d) Parallelism.

10. What technique is used in the phrase "the stink of burning hair, fur, and horn" (19)?
(a) Synesthesia.
(b) Imagery.
(c) Onomatopoeia.
(d) Assonance.

11. What can be inferred about the woman from the description of the women who try to get her to sit down at their church?
(a) She is not a Christian.
(b) She is not Black.
(c) She is Jewish.
(d) She is White.

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

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

14. What is it logical to infer about the church women who are wearing red?
(a) They are worship leaders.
(b) They are collecting the offering.
(c) They are ushers.
(d) They are the choir.

15. Where is the woman's landlady from?
(a) Jamaica.
(b) Barbados.
(c) Cuba.
(d) Trinidad.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why are rams' horns being blown all around the city?

2. What does the sick man want when he calls the main character?

3. Besides reading the Bible, what else does the woman spend her time doing in the period of time her story is about?

4. After completing her first draft of the story, what does the woman realize about it?

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

(see the answer keys)

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