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 does Ben ask Annie to add to his painting of the barn?

2. What does Annie see when she looks out the window of her apartment?

3. What is Annie doing in her dream in Chapter 13?

4. What did Ben dislike when he was a baby?

5. What does Annie see in the university library?

Short Essay Questions

1. What has Ben's life been like prior to his time with Annie?

2. What is your opinion of Annie's relationship with Melanie, her own therapist?

3. Why do you think that Ben thought that he could not be hurt?

4. When Annie researched Ben's past, what did she find out about his first foster home?

5. How does Annie interpret her first session with Ben after the Christmas break?

6. How does Annie convince Ben that she will met with him again after Christmas break?

7. Why do you believe that it is significant that Annie is no longer remembering large chunks of her day?

8. What feeling does Annie have both when she leaves Harvard and when she leaves her birthday party at Sarah's apartment?

9. Explain the significance of Annie and Ben's struggle after he tears the wing on his angel costume.

10. In what way is the bird that Ben paints connected with the bird that Annie paints?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Prepare a character sketch for Annie. Be sure to include aspects such as 1. background, 2. changes in emotional status through the course of the novel, 3. Annie's multiple personalities and what parts of Annie these personalities represent.

Essay Topic 2

Who do you believe the little girl is that Annie sees at the beginning of the book? What about the girl in the doctor's office when Annie is admitted to the hospital? Who is the girl who plays chess with Telesporus when Annie is in the hospital? Do you believe these girls are different girls, or the same one? It is known that Annie had multiple personalities. Are these girls fragments of herself, or do they represent Annie as a young child? Explain your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the titles that Annie uses in her book, both the main title and section titles for the three main sections of the novel.

1. Do you believe the section titles (The Other Side of Silence, Silence and Messenger) are appropriate? Explain how each title relates to the information included in that section of the text.

2. Do you believe the main title of the novel, A Shining Affliction, is appropriate? To what affliction does the title refer? Why is this affliction considered to be shining?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 870 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample