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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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)?
(a) Fatalistic.
(b) Acerbic.
(c) Ironic.
(d) Bemused.

2. In what sense is the drowned woman also still constantly in the narrator's thoughts?
(a) He begins collecting newspaper articles about drownings.
(b) He sees her as a symbol of his own recklessness.
(c) He imagines that every man he sees could be her killer.
(d) He constantly imagines her there beside Gin.

3. On page 243, there is a reference to "Casanova." Why is this historical figure mentioned?
(a) He was a priest who argued that premarital sex is not a mortal sin.
(b) He was a groundbreaking psychiatrist.
(c) He was a legendary lover.
(d) He was a poet who wrote about the nobility of faithfulness.

4. Which detail of the narrator's description of their kisses indicates the passage of time?
(a) The Cokes.
(b) The wind.
(c) The suntan lotion.
(d) The lip gloss.

5. When the police examine the woman's body in the light of their flashlights, what does her nakedness and obvious pregnancy cause them to do?
(a) Look at Gin uncomfortably.
(b) Cross themselves and say a prayer.
(c) Remove their hats and bow their heads.
(d) Tell the narrator and Gin to move back.

6. Why does the narrator say that Lake Michigan "became" the Pacific Ocean (235)?
(a) Gin has always imagined losing her virginity on a California beach.
(b) He is experiencing a feeling of being lost in space and time.
(c) The sound of the waves is exaggerated by his excitement.
(d) He is referencing the film From Here to Eternity.

7. What technique is used in the sentence "On my fingers your slick scent mixed with the coconut musk of the suntan lotion we’d repeatedly smeared over each other's bodies" (234) ?
(a) Imagery.
(b) Allusion.
(c) Personification.
(d) Metonymy.

8. After the narrator drops Gin off at her building on the night of the incident at the beach, why does she run back outside and call after him?
(a) She wants to tell him that she loves him.
(b) She wants to know if he needs an umbrella.
(c) She want to know if he is going to tell anyone what happened.
(d) She needs to get her blanket back from him.

9. What does the narrator compare the dead woman's hair to?
(a) Seaweed.
(b) A wig.
(c) Leaves.
(d) A horse's tail.

10. What kind of blanket does Gin bring to the beach?
(a) Her grandmother's quilt.
(b) A picnic blanket.
(c) An army blanket.
(d) A Navajo blanket.

11. What technique is employed in the phrase "How adept we were at fumbling" (233)?
(a) Verbal irony.
(b) Paradox.
(c) Oxymoron.
(d) Juxtaposition.

12. Who asks the narrator and Gin questions as they try to leave the beach?
(a) Curious onlookers.
(b) The police officer with a beer belly.
(c) The ambulance attendant.
(d) The police officer with the crew cut.

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

14. 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 create a mood of disgust.
(b) To convey the narrator's ambiguous sexual orientation.
(c) To depict Gin's youth and vulnerability.
(d) To imply that the narrator is not really attracted to Gin.

15. To what British author does the narrator ironically compare himself near the end of the story?
(a) D. H. Lawrence.
(b) James Joyce.
(c) Rudyard Kipling.
(d) H. G. Wells.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who is the author of "We Didn't"?

3. What does Gin believe is true about the dead woman on the beach?

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

5. What technique is used in the phrase "the forlorn, deflated Trojan" (238)?

(see the answer keys)

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