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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who visits Ellen at school after she is a ward of the state?
(a) Her father.
(b) A psychiatrist.
(c) No one.
(d) Her mother.

2. How does Ellen describe her family before the funeral?
(a) As sad.
(b) As nice.
(c) As phonies.
(d) As happy.

3. What does Ellen's father stroke while he is yelling at Ellen and her mother?
(a) His arm.
(b) His beard.
(c) A pocketknife.
(d) A cat.

4. Why does Ellen refuse to play with Starletta's toys?
(a) Starletta was mean.
(b) Starletta was dirty.
(c) Starletta was selfish.
(d) Starletta did not have any toys.

5. One day Ellen is given an inkblot test. What does Ellen call the inkblots?
(a) Bats.
(b) Cats.
(c) Mats.
(d) Rats.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens to Ellen's mother's clothes?

2. Who are Rudolph and Ellis?

3. Why does Ellen wear her coat to bed?

4. Why does Ellen feel that her mother is better off in the hospital than at home?

5. What does Ellen use reading for?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways has Ellen's mother's family shown that they do not care if Ellen is being neglected?

2. How does Ellen's selection of gifts show that Ellen has to take responsibility for herself?

3. How does the fact that Ellen is concerned with snakes in her new life hint at how she feels about the members of her family?

4. Why does Ellen feel that her relatives are phonies?

5. How does the author create a reversal of the mother-daughter role in the novel?

6. How is Ellen's former life and her new life an example of dualism?

7. How is the pony's name, Dolphin, a symbol of freedom to Ellen?

8. How can a reader tell that Ellen may harbor some prejudices toward African American people?

9. The author never indicates the time period of when the events in Ellen's life are taking place. How can one tell from the context about clues that Ellen's story happens in fairly modern times?

10. In Chapter 1, Ellen contemplates killing someone. How does Ellen plan to kill this person and respond to the death if she actually goes through with it?

(see the answer keys)

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