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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. At the end of H's visit with George and Henry on the morning of New Year's Day, George is shocked to realize that she has taken what action three times?

2. George's mother had been one of the original group of how many founding Subvert members?

3. In what city does George currently live with her father and her brother Henry?

4. George suspects that her brother Henry has what quality within his identity?

5. The second time H visits George's house, they go together to what kind of establishment to talk?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kinds of conflicts have been revealed so far within the text? Give a brief example of at least two conflicts unfolding at the center of the text.

2. Discuss an instance when Smith injects humor into a memory George has of her late mother.

3. What had been George's family's New Year's Eve ritual and which members of the family had participated?

4. What does George tell her father after he discovers her in the garden engaging in her daily ritual?

5. What piece of information did George's mother forget during their time in Italy and why did this event upset George?

6. Explain the revelation that is finally made about the source of George's incessant feelings of "guilt and fury" (210) that result in repetitive thoughts.

7. For what reason is George unable to find out what songs her mother had danced to during her morning ritual?

8. What element of language does George come to see differently after her mother's death?

9. Discuss a metaphor Smith uses to indicate George's concern that she may be unable to love.

10. What is the significance of the record album entitled Tell Laura I Love Her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Smith’s use of metaphor, simile, imagery, and other literary devices as a means to send particular thematic messages within the narrative of How to Be Both.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the ways in which the themes of adaptability and resignation appear within Smith’s novel How to Be Both. What message is Smith sending about these two themes over the course of the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the novel How to Be Both from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

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