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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 plant did Trethewey take from Gwendolyn's apartment in Part I after she was killed?

2. What John Banville Book does Trethewey begin the book with a quote from?

3. Which famous monument was in sight of the apartment Gwendolyn lived in when she was killed?

4. What popular television show had Trethewey watched all summer in 1973?

5. Which of the following images did Trethewey remember seeing the morning after her mother's death?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the photograph from May 1974 make plain to Trethewey when she looks at it now?

2. Why did Trethewey's father encourage her to become a writer?

3. What pain did Trethewey's grandmother describe long after Gwendolyn had died?

4. Why did Gwendolyn's paternal grandmother, Narcissus, dislike Gwendolyn's mother?

5. Why did the Ku Klux Klan burn a cross in the driveway of Trethewey's grandmother's house in the 1960s?

6. When and where did Trethewey first encounter racism from other children?

7. What is one thing Trethewey remembered her mother doing to their apartment in Atlanta to try to make her feel more at home?

8. What nightmare did Trethewey have shortly after moving to Atlanta?

9. What did Trethewey want more than anything after moving to Atlanta?

10. What image did Trethewey keep in her head from the first day after her mother's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What do the few objects Trethewey kept after her mother's death - the belt made of bullets, the dieffenbachia plant, and a few books - say about her relationship with and feelings about her mother? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

How did the various people, from the police to the owners of Gwendolyn's apartment, treat Trethewey in the immediate aftermath of her mother's death in 1985? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

What did Trethewey learn from the pages of her mother's notes that were in Gwendolyn's briefcase at the time of Gwendolyn's death in 1985? Write an essay explaining your answers.

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