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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. What job did the unnamed narrator tell the other women belonged to the man with whom she had had an affair?

2. What name did the unnamed narrator call herself during her conversation with her one-night stand at the hotel?

3. What kind of beverage were the women at the gathering drinking in Fresno, 2014?

4. What kind of new lifestyle was John beginning at the time discussed in San Francisco, 2012?

5. The man at the hotel told the unnamed narrator that when a woman takes what action, he knows that he must untie her and allow her to leave?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way does Popkey suggest that the reader unpack their own reactions to the life events of the woman in Santa Barbara?

2. In what way does Popkey purposely mislead the reader at the start of the section called San Francisco, 2012?

3. What worldview did Fran express during her tirade depicted in Fresno, 2014 and how does the narrator now view Fran's comments?

4. What three feelings does the unnamed narrator recall feeling when John expressed interest in marriage counseling?

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

6. When the identity of the father of the unnamed narrator's child is finally revealed, who is it?

7. What method did the unnamed narrator eventually use to end her marriage and why?

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

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

10. How does Popkey employ a metaphor to indicate the pain the unnamed narrator caused John with her infidelity?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the effects of stress on the novel's characters and the coping methods each character uses to deal with emotional turmoil. Which characters' methods are effective, which are ineffective, and how do these varying levels of efficiency affect the messages sent by Topics of Conversation within the text?

Essay Topic 2

Trace the characterization arc of the unnamed narrator's character throughout the novel Topics of Conversation. Discuss whether she is a round or flat character and whether she is a static or dynamic character.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the interplay between the final passages in Topics of Conversation and one of the novel's main messages. How does Popkey make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help them get across one main message of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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