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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. Who comes to get Joy out of the shower?

2. What is the narrator's name?

3. Who in the Hospital goes missing one day?

4. Where did Joy used to work?

5. What is the first type of patient in the Hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are Olds and Older?

2. What happens during the first blizzard of the year at the Hospital?

3. Which person from Joy's past haunted the Stop and Shop where she worked?

4. What does Joy see one morning in the arms of a pilgrim standing outside the Hospital?

5. What puts an end to the patients' rebellion?

6. What does Joy learn about her mother during an Internet session?

7. Why does a pilgrim join the Hospital?

8. What are the twins obsessed with?

9. Why do the patients stop entertaining the idea of escape?

10. Which one of Joy's friends in the Hospital gets sent to the tenth floor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Joy's relationship to and understanding of Dr. Bek. What does she think of him? Does this opinion change throughout the novel? How?

Essay Topic 2

The story is told entirely from Joy’s perspective. Analyze the author’s choice to tell the story from Joy’s point of view. How does viewing the events from Joy’s point of view affect the plot?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the voice of Joy. Use specific adjectives and examples from the text to analyze the nature of this voice and what it suggests about the character.

(see the answer keys)

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