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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 Jamie tell Allie to indicate he knows things have changed for her and Cam?

2. Where was Mia working after she left Wheelock?

3. What do Geraniums mean?

4. Where does Cam find all his uniforms after Allie sells them?

5. What does Graham drive around looking at to judge potential jurors?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Allie do when a man flirts with her at a bar where she is drinking her sorrows away?

2. What several things happen the Monday morning after Cam and Mia's trip to New Hampshire?

3. What does Ellen do to try to get Allie to forgive Cam?

4. What does Cam do when the private detective locates Mia for him?

5. What does Maggie's best friend say on the stand when the prosecutor asks her if she is angry with Jamie for killing Maggie?

6. Why does Jamie think he hasn't seen or felt Maggie since her death?

7. What does Allie do one evening at her shop to try to help her situation with Cam?

8. What happens in Cam's dream at the end of the novel?

9. What did Jamie and Maggie do on their last night together?

10. What does Jamie tell the prosecutor when she asks him why he didn't remove the pillow when Maggie struggled?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss how the theme of love was used in Mercy not just as romantic love, but love of country and duty to family.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Picoult begin the novel with these lines from a William Carlos Williams poem: "What power has love but forgiveness?/ In other words/ by its intervention/ what has been done/ can be undone./ What good is it otherwise?" What is the significance of these words to the plot and themes of Mercy? What is the difference between forgiveness and mercy?

Essay Topic 3

Compare the relationships of Cam and Allie and Jamie and Maggie. What did each relationship represent? How did they evolve throughout the novel? What did the individuals discover about themselves through the relationship?

(see the answer keys)

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