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 starts to happen to Elaine when her family is on its summer trip?

2. What word does Elaine use to describe her profession?

3. Which of the girls is physically maturing ahead of the others?

4. What does Elaine stop to eat downtown at the beginning of Chapter 7?

5. What is wrong with Grace Smeath's mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Elaine feel about boys in eleventh grade?

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

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

4. What was Elaine's reaction to statues of the Virgin Mary she saw in churches?

5. Throughout the novel, who does Elaine think she sees in crowds or around town?

6. How does Elaine feel when she attributes her feelings to Cordelia, instead of to herself?

7. How does Elaine feel when she first meets Cordelia?

8. What habit does Elaine develop because of Cordelia's bullying?

9. What is Elaine's attitude toward marriage while she is dating Josef?

10. How does Josef react to Susie's injury?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss criticism in the novel.

1) What does criticism of Elaine's art mean to her? How does she relate to the press and others that view and criticize her life and work as an artist?

2) What role does criticism play in Elaine's childhood relationship with Cordelia and her other friends? Where is the line between constructive criticism and abuse?

3) Why does Elaine become critical of others in high school? Why do Elaine and Cordelia spend their time criticizing others?

Essay Topic 2

Emotional pain in the novel is often linked to physical pain. Discuss the relationship of physical and emotional pain in the novel.

1) Why does Elaine injure her fingers and feet? How is her physical pain linked to emotional pain?

2) Discuss Elaine's experience of physical and emotional pain in times of crisis, such as when she is trapped in the ravine and when she is left in the dark hole.

Essay Topic 3

Elaine believes that she's good at leaving. Discuss the role of leaving in the novel.

1) How does Elaine separate herself from Cordelia and her other friends? What does leaving the situation involve, emotionally, for Elaine?

2) How and why does Elaine leave Josef and Jon? Compare Elaine's acts of leaving her lovers with leaving her former friends.

3) What other things does Elaine leave behind in the novel? When she leaves something behind, what parts of it does she still carry with her? Is leaving a good thing?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 640 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample