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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. How does Strane describe his students on page 358?

2. How does Ruby describe a teenage Vanessa on page 265?

3. What is one reason teenage girls should not date older men, as Vanessa reasons on page 260?

4. Which of Plough’s seminars does Vanessa take in the spring semester of her senior year?

5. How does Strane describe Vanessa’s blog on page 341?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Strane react to his encounter with Plough? How does Vanessa react to it?

2. How is Vanessa’s mother haunted by the past, as revealed by Jan Wye on page 363?

3. How does Vanessa rationalize Strane’s actions on page 260?

4. What happens during the interaction between Strane and Plough?

5. Who is Henry Plough? How does Vanessa compare him to Strane on page 272?

6. How does Strane describe the student accusing him of assault on page 306?

7. How does Vanessa’s relationship with Strane change after her graduation from college? To what can the reader attribute such change?

8. Why does Vanessa feel a need to see Strane, as explained on page 267? What does she get from it? How is this adoration function like a drug?

9. What does Vanessa reveal to Henry Plough regarding her time at Browick? What connection to Browick does Plough reveal?

10. What is Vanessa’s opinion of her teenage self? How does Ruby see a teenage Vanessa, as she explains on page 265?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

While teaching a lesson on Longfellow, Strane remarks that “the world is made of endlessly intersecting stories, each one valid and true” (21). How does the novel support or refute this claim?

Essay Topic 2

The role of power is a major theme of My Dark Vanessa. Choose three situations in which this theme is illustrated. Explain how each situation illustrates the theme of power, and evaluate what the author is trying to say about this subject.

Essay Topic 3

The characters in My Dark Vanessa all highlight the idea the past is never truly past. Choose three characters and explain how each illustrates this idea, using textual evidence to support your claims.

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