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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is A Grief Observed a series of?
(a) Short stories.
(b) Research papers.
(c) Essays.
(d) Reflections.

2. In what sense does the author feel isolated from his wife?
(a) He thinks she will not miss him.
(b) He cannot enter into her experience of dying.
(c) She cannot come home from the hospital.
(d) He cannot express his fears to her.

3. Of what disease did H. die?
(a) Emphysema.
(b) Leukemia.
(c) Cancer.
(d) Brain tumor.

4. Who is H.?
(a) The author's brother.
(b) A faculty member.
(c) A friend from the author's past.
(d) The author's wife.

5. What kind of understanding did the author have of H.'s dying?
(a) The same understanding that H. had.
(b) An understanding of knowing death was approaching.
(c) An intellectual understanding.
(d) An understanding of the physical pain.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the first chapter, what does the author say is the most "disquieting symptom"?

2. What does the author think happens to our memories of people?

3. Who is the main character in the book?

4. How will the author respond to being told the consolations of religion?

5. Who reacts in shame when the author talks about his wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter One, Lewis reflects upon marriage, religion and God. What is one thing that Lewis admits that marriage has done for him?

2. How did Lewis feel years ago about a friend's life after death? Contrast that experience with the way that Lewis experiences H. after her death?

3. In what ways does Lewis describe H.'s "noble hunger"? Describe the ways that H.'s "noble hunger" displayed itself in H.'s approach.

4. What does Lewis experience when he finally goes to a place where he and H. had been happy?

5. What impresses Lewis about his realization of the man he had not seen for 10 years and Lewis's actual memories of the man?

6. Lewis decided to record his reflections to get all his feelings and thoughts out. What does Lewis reflect might be a downside to his journal?

7. What does Lewis describe as so tragic about H.'s "noble hunger"?

8. What does Lewis mean by the term "live" as it relates to H.'s memory?

9. In what ways does Lewis reflect a mother who has lost her child can and cannot find comfort? For what does a mother mourn in that situation?

10. What does Lewis think that he can say about H.'s continuing? Why is it important for Lewis to work out the issue of where H. is?

(see the answer keys)

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