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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What food was John eating as a part of his health kick when the unnamed narrator told him that it would not improve his sperm count or motility?
(a) Carrots.
(b) Pasta.
(c) Cheese.
(d) Kale.

2. What type of transportation did the unnamed narrator start to obsessively use during her affair with a married professor?
(a) Motorcycle.
(b) Horse-drawn carriage.
(c) Subway.
(d) Bicycle.

3. What position at her college did the unnamed narrator hold during her affair with the married professor?
(a) Event coordinator.
(b) Research assistant.
(c) Resident advisor.
(d) Dean of students.

4. What pseudonym did the unnamed narrator use when she told the other women about her affair with a married professor?
(a) John.
(b) Jeff.
(c) Jake.
(d) Edward.

5. What term did the unnamed narrator use to describe the way the professor's control made her feel?
(a) Sad.
(b) Degraded.
(c) Remade.
(d) Strong.

Short Answer Questions

1. The unnamed narrator believes that people confide in her because she is "good at keeping" what "quiet" (167)?

2. Which poet's name did the unnamed narrator's role-playing partner fail to recognize?

3. Which of the four women at the gathering got angry and stormed out when it became clear that no one cared to hear her story?

4. Including the two times per month that the unnamed narrator and John were having sex, how many times per month did she allow him to touch her?

5. The unnamed narrator states in San Francisco, 2012 that taking what action is "difficult and painful" (95)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the unnamed narrator do for a living during her marriage to John?

2. Discuss at least one negative coping mechanism that the unnamed narrator uses once she has gotten sober.

3. Describe the difference between the unnamed narrator's view of therapy in 2014 and her current view.

4. Discuss the stream-of-consciousness style in which Topics of Conversation is written.

5. For what reason did the unnamed narrator make several attempts to commit adultery before she was successful?

6. What are the contents of the story that the woman in Santa Barbara told the unnamed narrator as they swam in the ocean?

7. How does the unnamed narrator describe the fertility problems she and John experienced during their marriage?

8. In what way does the unnamed narrator find her previous view of intimacy problematic?

9. For what reason did the unnamed narrator decide not to become friends with Dominique?

10. What act does the unnamed narrator describe as having been attractive due to its promise of "finite pleasure" (180)?

(see the answer keys)

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