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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 nun does Tara have negative thoughts about in Chapter 5?

2. Tara tells her parents that the teacher told the class to call the police if they saw their parents doing what in Chapter 3?

3. Where did Tara sleep the night after the carnival in Chapter 10?

4. What does Tara do when her mother curses, causing Tara's mother anger in Chapter 10?

5. Tara says that she spent a lot of time with her mother until when, in Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Tara feel about her inward thoughts in Chapter 5?

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

3. How does Tara describe the phrase that began her problems in Chapter 1?

4. What exchange does Tara describe with Mrs. Scott in Chapter 1? What causes Tara's humiliation?

5. How does Tara deal with her parents' absence while they are at work in Chapter 8?

6. What is tragic about the image that Tara projects about herself versus the reality in Chapter 3?

7. What does Tara do after feeling humiliated in front of her schoolmates in Chapter 1? How does she feel?

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

9. How do Tara and their friends describe their personal fears in Chapter 3?

10. How does Tara describe her relationship with her mother in Chapter 2? How does she describe her friends?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss stereotypes in the novel and in real life. How realistic are the characters of Keesha, Kristin and Anna? Are these stereotypes realistic depictions of people you can relate to? Why or why not? Is there a basis in the stereotypes? Are they simply Tara's way of identifying people?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the element of language and style in literature and in the novel. How is language used in "Kissing Doorknobs"? How is it used thematically with Tara's character? How do the characters interact with one another? Does this differ from how Tara's internal mind thinks?

(see the answer keys)

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