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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 does Antoinette wish?

2. How does Thérèse arrive?

3. What does Thérèse do for her mother?

4. How do the girls "doctor" each other?

5. What do the two girls do to save the "dead" baby doll?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "The Onyx Ashtray," what are the ways the Priest conspires to keep the knowledge about the found bones from becoming a focus for the media?

2. How is the relationship between Baptiste and Léonie developed in this chapter?

3. What might the lava image which Thérèse images in "The Rosary," mean to Thérèse?

4. Briefly describe the scene about the broth and discuss its possible symbolism in the chapter "The Slotted Spoon."

5. How does Léonie symbolically enter the adult world in the chapter titled "The Ironing Board"?

6. What so you think is the symbolism attached to Thérèse jumping free of her burning clothes?

7. What rather strange and perhaps a bit disturbing fact is revealed about Léonie in this chapter?

8. In the chapter, "The Dustpan," what is Thérèse's "public" version of why she broke the Quimper dish and what is evident later as to why she breaks it?

9. What is a possible reason the author has Léonie jabbing her cigarette in the air to emphasize the argument with Thérèse?

10. What hint is there in the chapter, "The Cellar Key," that something about the cellar upsets Antoinette?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The two main characters, Léonie and Thérèse, are cousins (or perhaps sisters), though, they are in some ways mirror opposites of each other...or are they. Answer the following questions in a well-developed essay using examples from the book as well as personal experience:

1. In what ways are Léonie and Thérèse complete opposites; give several examples and explain your choices.

2. In what ways are Léonie and Thérèse similar; give several examples and explain your choices.

3. Which cousin seems to be more "real"? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Chapters 18 and 19 both obliquely refer to the rape of Antoinette by a German soldier during WWII. There are a number of references throughout the text that implies that Thérèse, and perhaps even Léonie is a product of this rape. Answer the following questions in a well-developed essay using examples from the book as well as personal experience:

1. List and discuss the references throughout the novel that suggests that Antoinette is raped by a German soldier. Include dreams, conversations, and any other sources. What is your interpretation of the textual evidence?

2. Discuss the references that suggest that Thérèse is a product of the rape. Are there references that imply that Léonie is not only Thérèse's sister, but her twin and is a product of the same rape? Find those references also. What do you believe about the parentage of the two girls? Support your statements with specific textual references.

3. Breasts are an obvious symbol of maternity in that women breastfeed their children. Discuss the implications of Antoinette's breast cancer and her role as a mother juxtaposed next to the fact that she is raped.

Essay Topic 3

In chapter 3, Thérèse has left the monastery after being behind its walls for about twenty years. She feels disoriented and confused at life in the "real" world. Answer the following questions in a well-developed essay using examples from the book as well as personal experience:

1. How long do you think it will take Thérèse to adjust to the differences between a cloistered life and life among a diversity of people and places?

2. Why do you think Thérèse chose to close herself off from the "real" world? Are her motivations strictly spiritual? If she is alive after the ending of this story, do you think she will go back to the cloistered life? Why or why not?

3. Many men and women confined in a penal system for any duration of more than a few years find that they cannot adjust to "life on the outside," and often end up back in prison. Some even commit a crime in order to go back to prison. Why do you think this happens? Is there any way to help any person who has been isolated, whether in a penal system or otherwise, to adjust to a more public life? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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