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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. What does the narrator see on the street when he is leaving Gin's building on the night of the beach incident?
(a) His underwear.
(b) Gin's blanket.
(c) Beach sand.
(d) A condom.

2. What is the description of the condom springing from the narrator's fingers "like a spring from a clock" (235) meant to convey?
(a) The narrator's general clumsiness.
(b) The complex nature of growing up.
(c) The comical setting of their first attempt at sex.
(d) The pressure of time passing.

3. What detail on page 233 reveals that some time has passed since the events of the story took place?
(a) The characters visiting "Oak Street Beach."
(b) Gin saying that she feels "like Doris Day" is watching her.
(c) The "lilac bushes in Marquette Park."
(d) The "now defunct Clark Theater."

4. Which of the following techniques is used in the sentence "How adept we were at fumbling, how perfectly mistimed our timing, how utterly we confused energy with ecstasy" (233)?
(a) Antithesis.
(b) Asyndeton.
(c) Synecdoche.
(d) Polysyndeton.

5. How has the narrator and Gin's relationship changed by the end of the summer?
(a) Gin is not comfortable being alone with the narrator.
(b) They argue constantly about trivial things.
(c) The narrator has begun to notice other girls in his neighborhood.
(d) Gin cries whenever the narrator tries to kiss her.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what does the narrator compare the other lovers on the beach?

2. What technique is evident in the phrase "feverish plucking and twanging, tom-toms, congas, and gongs" (235)?

3. In the story's opening, what details are related to the passage of time?

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?

5. To what British author does the narrator ironically compare himself near the end of the story?

(see the answer key)

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