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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 believes that Tara's condition is just a passing stage in Chapter 6?

2. In Chapter 4, Tara says that "invisible ____ had snuck into my brain."

3. Tara begins to pray for people who do what in Chapter 6?

4. How many times does Tara repeat her prayers before leaving the house when she's afraid in Chapter 8?

5. What refers to behavior in which a person acts in a certain way not because they want to, but because they feel they have to do so?

Short Essay Questions

1. What awakens Tara in Chapter 2? Who does she turn to for reassurance?

2. What does Tara reveal to Donna about herself in Chapter 12? What is Donna's reaction?

3. How does Tara describe her relationship to religion in Chapter 2?

4. How does Chapter 11 serve the plot of the narrative? How do the events in this chapter relate to those in Chapter 10?

5. How does Tara feel after the incident at the carnival in Chapter 10? What new fear has arisen?

6. What leads Tara to study religion in Chapter 6? How is this perceived by her family?

7. What takes place at the carnival in Chapter 10?

8. How does Tara describe the summer between fifth and sixth grades in Chapter 7?

9. How are the relationships between Tara and her friends described in Chapter 7?

10. How does Tara view language in Chapter 5? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss both religious allusion and the narrative voice in the novel. Is the novel written in present or past tense? From whose point of view? What religion is Tara? How does she feel about her religion? Why does Tara find solace in religion?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of fear and Tara's fears in the narrative. What has led to Tara's fear of losing her parents? How is Tara's condition affected when her father is hospitalized? How does the isolation from her friends affect Tara? What does Tara claim her greatest fear is in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Tara's father's medical condition. What led to his heart attack, and how serious was his condition at the hospital? How does Tara's father's heart attack affect Tara's relationship with her mother? How is Greta affected by her father's hospitalization?

(see the answer keys)

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