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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 does Ethel tell Aisling in a telegram in Chapter 20?

2. How does Maureen find Aisling after her return to Ireland from England?

3. How do Aisling and Tony offend their relatives in Chapter 15?

4. Who does Elizabeth feel sympathy towards during his speech in Chapter 13?

5. Who throws Elizabeth and Henry a party in Chapter 16?

Short Essay Questions

1. What changes occur in Elizabeth's love life in Chapter 15? What difficulties does Aisling face in her marriage in Chapter 15?

2. How do Aisling's family in Kilgarret respond to her decision to leave Tony?

3. What promise does Elizabeth make to Eileen before she dies?

4. What does Aisling innocently reveal to Henry in Chapter 20?

5. Who does Aisling begin an affair with in Chapter 20? Who almost discovers the affair?

6. What causes Tony to start drinking again in Chapter 16?

7. How does Elizabeth quiet her father's insistence that she should marry soon in Chapter 14?

8. What upsets Eileen at the beginning of Chapter 17?

9. What does Elizabeth tell Aisling about her mother in Chapter 12?

10. What difficulties does Aisling face with Tony in Chapter 17? What conclusion does she come to about her marriage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author of the novel "Light a Penny Candle", Maeve Binchy. What other books has she written? Is this novel similar to her other works in term of plot, tone and genre? How is her work received by critics?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of religion in the novel "Light a Penny Candle". How does Elizabeth's move to Ireland introduce her to a new faith? How does her new faith influence her? What is the connection between the novel's motif of guilt and its theme of religion? Are Elizabeth and Aisling religious people?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Elizabeth's pregnancy and abortion. How does she become pregnant? Is it a surprise to her? How does she come to the conclusion to abort her pregnancy? What does Aisling think of abortion? Why does she feel this way? How does Elizabeth's abortion cause problems years later?

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