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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. When Erica whispers to Plum, where does she tell her to go?

2. What excuse does Erica use to get Plum to come to the Austen Media offices?

3. How old is Plum?

4. What is the title of the booklet that enrages the woman at the Baptist Diet meeting and causes her to leave?

5. What is the only color of clothes Plum wears at the time of the novel's beginning?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Janine's outburst at the Baptist Diet meeting foreshadow Plum's own coming changes?

2. What allusion is being made within the line, "On top of a cabinet, a large orchid was trapped under a bell jar" (85) and what is the author's purpose for using it?

3. Discuss the significance of Plum's clothing organization choices in the first part of the novel.

4. How does the author portray Eulayla Baptist's husband Allen as playing a major role in her torturous weight loss plan?

5. How does the terrorist organization known as Jennifer claim responsibility for the murders of Michael Simmons and Davis Green?

6. How does the motif of the italicized word "Burst!" (42) coincide with the theme of self-hatred?

7. What is the identifying feature of Leeta's appearance?

8. Describe Plum's job at Austen Media and how she comes to inhabit it.

9. What significant event happens in the spring of Plum's junior year of high school?

10. What is ironic about Plum's reaction to her encounter with Janine at the Baptist Diet meeting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's choice to tell the story of Dietland using the first-person point of view. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what is the author's intended effect on the reader?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the many instances of irony within the novel's narrative and analyze the author's purpose for including each instance you discuss.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the author's messages regarding rebellion within her novel Dietland.

(see the answer keys)

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