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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. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, who does Deborah say she rode with?

2. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, what does Deborah say she remembered?

3. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, who does Deborah say she compared herself to?

4. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say she becomes in grief?

5. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Blueish Darkness, what possession from her mother does Deborah say she treasured?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, what does Deborah say happened when she read her book out loud at a festival in Berlin?

2. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, where does Deborah say she saw the word "winterized"? How did she apply this to herself?

3. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Bluish Darkness, what does Deborah say she had for dinner? What happened with dinner?

4. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Bluish Darkness, what does Deborah say her new life was about? Why does she say this?

5. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, how does Deborah say she felt after her mother's death? What did she ride instead of an e-bike?

6. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say Simone de Beauvoir fought against so strongly? Who did she refuse in this quest?

7. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, what are the two quotes that Deborah cites at the end of the chapter? How do they apply to her marriage?

8. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, who does Deborah say took to driving her around the city and why? Who also rode with them?

9. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, how does Deborah say she remembered her journey to Britain as a child? How does she say she thinks of it later?

10. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say her friend told her about her husband? What did Deborah muse about this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Levvy says: "I was more interested in a major unwritten female character" (123).

Does the autobiography write this female character? If so, what does it write? If not, where does it fall short? How are Deborah and the other women in the book either this unwritten female character or different variations of her? How, according to the book, does it become possible to write the unwritten?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the names and themes of each of the chapters in the autobiography. Each one connects to a theme carried out in the chapter, as well as an overall cadence of the autobiography. How are the chapters grouped together or connected by their titles and themes, either in groups, or across numbers? How are they all connected together for a layout of narrative? Use the chapter names for an exploration of what the narrative arc of the autobiography is, and what parts are specifically connected to one another.

Essay Topic 3

At the end of Chapter Three, Levy says, "Most children who grow up in that story will struggle, along with everyone else to compose another one" (13).

Consider how Levy composes herself in her life. What does she struggle with in her composition in the autobiography? How is the act of composition not a solitary act, both in the quote and her autobiography but a composition together? Who then helps Levy compose herself, as her patriarchal story falls apart, and what composition does each of these characters add? Consider why she is writing this autobiography and how this story is not only for others, but also for herself.

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