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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Larry say over and over again upon seeing Gerald and the bear?

2. What did the Countess and Demetrios serve for the main course of the meal?

3. What song were Donald and Max singing as they approached the Durrell home?

4. What was Gerald contemplating on his walk home from meeting the gypsy and Pavlo?

5. Where and by who was the white owl found?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Mawake? What was unusual about Mawake?

2. What kinds of food and drink did Gerald's luncheon with the Countess consist of? How did Gerald feel as he left the Countess' villa to go home?

3. What sound woke Larry in the middle of the night that caused him to wake the rest of the family? What did Gerald tell them all that explained things? What had caused the noise?

4. Who did Gerald entrust to care for his baby hedgehogs while he was gone for the weekend with his mother? What condition were they in when he returned?

5. Where did Margo go for treatment for her acne and weight gain? With whom did she stay? Was the treatment successful?

6. What did Gerald find in a field an old woman was cultivating? What did Gerald do with his find?

7. Who was the Countess Mavrodaki? Why did she contact Gerald? What was Larry's reaction to her letter to Gerald?

8. When Margo, Mother, Fan and Prue took the dogs with them shopping, what happened?

9. How did Mother respond to meeting Mawake and Mrs. Haddock? How was this reaction unusual for Mother? What was the conclusion of the meeting?

10. What did Pru tell Mother about Margo's behavior in London? What were her concerns? How did Margo react to the concerns of her great aunts and mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is a memoir? What specific qualities separate memoir from autobiography? What qualities are inherent in a memoir?

Essay Topic 2

Gerald says upon introducing Theodore Stephanides to his story, "...someone who was going to become immediately the most important person in my life. To me, Theodore was one of the most remarkable people I had ever met." Explain who Theodore Stephanides is, and why he is so important in Gerald's life.

Essay Topic 3

Gerald Durrell ended his memoir with the short paragraph "Lulled by the wine and the throbbing heart of the boat's engine, lulled by the warm night and the singing, I fell asleep while the boat carried us back across the warm, smooth waters to our island and the brilliant days that were not to be." Discuss this sentence, its relevance to the memoir as a whole, and the "days ahead" for the family.

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