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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 kind of room do the children find built in a corner of the attic?

2. What kind of school does the Mother tell her children she is enrolling in?

3. What relation does the grandmother tell the children their father had to their mother?

4. Who bites the grandmother during an altercation with her in Chapter 5?

5. What is the first thing the children decide to do to make the attic more suitable?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the mother tell the children she plans on earning a living in Chapter 6?

2. How does Chris help Cathy deal with the twins in Chapter 7?

3. What happens when the children play hide and seek in the attic during winter?

4. How does Chris try to make the attic more enjoyable for the twins in Chapter 4?

5. How does the mother describe the children's father the first time she met him?

6. What do Chris and Cathy realize about their bodies in Chapter 8?

7. What is the nature of the grandmother's speech to the children at the end of Chapter 2?

8. What is the nature of the mean speech the grandmother gives to the children in Chapter 5?

9. How do the twins react when the grandmother gives them a mean speech in Chapter 5?

10. How does the Dollanganger children's father die in the book?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Survival is a theme that can sum up the plight of the children in the book overall. Part 1.) How do the children ultimately survive living in the attic for three years? Part 2.) Do you think the children would have survived if they hadn't escaped from the mansion when they did? Part 3.) Will the children's ability to survive last, given all that has happened to them, or will they never truly recover from it?

Essay Topic 2

Loyalty is one topic the author examines in the book through the children's relationship with their mother. Part 1.) What is telling of Chris' nature based on his loyalty towards his mother after they are imprisoned? Part 2.) Why doesn't Cathy show the same loyalty to her mother as Chris does? Part 3.) What might the author be saying about the nature of loyalty based on the portrayal of the children's loyalty breaking in the book?

Essay Topic 3

Incest is a theme presented in various ways in the book. Part 1.) How might the children's opinions of their parents change after discovering they were related? Part 2.) How does the grandmother inadvertently cause the incest to occur between Cathy and Chris, and what impact must this have on her? Part 3.) How does the author almost make incest excusable in the book, and what reason does she have for this?

(see the answer keys)

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