View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What had Grace Brown given Mattie to burn in A Northern Light?

2. When Mattie asks Aunt Josie for financial help for college, Aunt Josie tells Mattie she’s as selfish as whom?

3. How long ago has Mattie’s mother died in the beginning of the narrative?

4. Whose name does Mattie recall on the letters upstairs under her mattress in the opening of the novel?

5. Mattie has heard that the works of Emily Baxter are what before she reads them?

Short Essay Questions

1. What conflicts regarding the expected roles of women are introduced in Chapter 1?

2. How is the character of Aunt Josie depicted in the novel? What are Aunt Josie’s principle concerns?

3. How is Mattie’s father described in the novel? What are his principle concerns in the beginning of the story?

4. What does Aunt Josie discover about Emmie Hubbard in Chapter 14? How does she make this discovery?

5. What does Mattie discover through Grace Brown’s letter in Chapter 16? What does this clue indicate to Mattie?

6. How is the narrative of A Northern Light structured? What are the two timelines that occur in the story?

7. How is Minnie Compeau’s character described in Chapter 2?

8. How is Uncle Fifty’s character described when he arrives in Chapter 11?

9. What is Mattie’s central objective regarding her future in the beginning of A Northern Light? How is this objective tied to the chapter introductions in the book?

10. What does Mattie realize while out boating with Royal Loomis in Chapter 15? How does she feel about the realization?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and discuss the character of Uncle Fifty in the novel. Where does Uncle Fifty live? How is his lifestyle different than that of his brother, Mattie’s father? What does Mattie think of her uncle?

Essay Topic 2

Racism and Sexism in A Northern Light

a. Discuss the ways that racism is addressed as a theme in the novel. Which characters in the story represent this theme? How?

b. Discuss ways that sexism and gender expectations are explored thematically in A Northern Light. Which characters represent this theme? How does the author connect the themes of racism and sexism?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the theme of social oppression in the novel as seen through the characters of Minnie, Weaver, and Mattie. In what ways are each of these characters limited in their power due to societal expectations of their race, gender, economic situation, or other uncontrollable factors?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 906 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample