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

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 pressure of time passing.
(b) The narrator's general clumsiness.
(c) The complex nature of growing up.
(d) The comical setting of their first attempt at sex.

3. Gin mentions her "nonna's cottage" (240). Whose cottage is this?
(a) Her aunt.
(b) Her grandmother.
(c) Her mother.
(d) Her sister.

4. To what does the narrator compare the other lovers on the beach?
(a) Sleeping dolls.
(b) Crash-test dummies.
(c) Abandoned mannequins.
(d) Fallen soldiers.

5. From the context of page 234, what "apocalypse" is the allusion to the Four Horsemen referring to?
(a) Climate change.
(b) Nuclear annihilation.
(c) Water scarcity.
(d) Global pandemic.

Short Answer Questions

1. On page 243, there is a reference to "Casanova." Why is this historical figure mentioned?

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. On the fall night when the narrator realizes that his relationship with Gin is over, what are they arguing about?

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

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

(see the answer key)

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