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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. Does Elaine know about the interview?

2. What does John make for a living?

3. Who do the little girls from Elaine's memories remind her of?

4. What does Elaine's mother tell her to do?

5. How does Elaine feel about girlish things like braids and purses?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator seem to feel about Cordelia during the first chapter of the novel?

2. What does Elaine think of Ben when she first meets him?

3. How does Elaine feel about Carol, Cordelia, and Grace when she sees them everyday after she starts sixth grade?

4. What does Carol tell all the other children about Elaine?

5. What is Stephen worried about, when Elaine goes to high school?

6. What gives Elaine a reprieve from the other girls' tormenting?

7. How does Cordelia act when Elaine's father comes to check on the girls watching the parade?

8. How does Elaine react to Jon's ex-girlfriend's anger?

9. At the art retrospective, what does Elaine wish she could ask Cordelia?

10. What view did Elaine have of Toronto as a child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the significance of time in the book.

1) What is Elaine's attitude toward time? How does she think of time, and why does she think of it this way?

2) How does Elaine's perception of time differ from Stephen's perception of time?

3) How is time portrayed in the novel? How is time in the novel symbolic?

4) How does time relate to memory in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the use of point of view in the book.

1) Why is this book told in the first person, from Elaine's point of view? How would it be different if it were told by a different narrator?

2) Does Elaine provide an accurate account of the world around her? How is her view of the world biased or flawed?

3) What would the reader gain from understanding Cordelia's perspective, or the perspective of another character?

Essay Topic 3

Elaine is drawn to religion but also rejects it. Discuss the importance and meaning of religion in the novel.

1) What is Grace's mother's attitude to religion? How do her values affect her children?

2) Why does Elaine choose hell over forgiving Grace's mother? How does she perceive God? Why does she seek out different churches as an adult?

3) Why does Elaine embrace the Virgin Mary as an alternative to God? What does the Virgin Mary that Elaine visits in Mexico mean to her?

4) What is the meaning of Elaine's vision of the Virgin Mary when she is in the icy ravine?

(see the answer keys)

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