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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "We Didn't".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. On the fall night when the narrator realizes that his relationship with Gin is over, what are they arguing about?
(a) A female poet who has committed suicide.
(b) A series of Elvis movies they saw at a drive-in.
(c) Whether they will ever have sex.
(d) The drowned woman.

2. In the story's opening, what details are related to the characters' youth?
(a) Light and darkness.
(b) Gin's bed and their parents' cars.
(c) The condition of the Rambler and the rosary.
(d) Grass, leaves, and snow.

3. What is the rhetorical purpose of the anaphora in the narrator's description of the Gold Coast residents having sex?
(a) It highlights the comic understatement of the narrator's response to the situation.
(b) It forms an ironic contrast with the story's opening.
(c) It creates increasing tension as the list continues.
(d) It stresses the similarities between the narrator and these strangers.

4. What is the rhetorical purpose of including the detail "the skinny rails of your legs" (235) when the narrator is talking about taking off Gin's bikini bottom?
(a) To depict Gin's youth and vulnerability.
(b) To create a mood of disgust.
(c) To imply that the narrator is not really attracted to Gin.
(d) To convey the narrator's ambiguous sexual orientation.

5. What does Gin believe is true about the dead woman on the beach?
(a) She was sent by God.
(b) She was an omen.
(c) Gin and the narrator could have saved her.
(d) Her death was accidental.

Short Answer Questions

1. Gin mentions her "nonna's cottage" (240). Whose cottage is this?

2. What is the narrator's tone when he recalls, "I was trying to calm your terror with reassuring phrases such as 'Holy shit! I don’t fucking believe this!'” (236)?

3. What is the description of the condom springing from the narrator's fingers "like a spring from a clock" (235) meant to convey?

4. What technique is employed in the phrase "How adept we were at fumbling" (233)?

5. What mood do the diction and details included in the scene where the police leave their cars and enter the water create?

(see the answer key)

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