View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Lana give Ava to drink at her house?

2. Why do some black people still go to the sliding window for their food at Simmy's?

3. How does Sylvia know Marcus?

4. What is one method Ava has tried to use to help her get pregnant in the past?

5. What is Jonnie's and Mae's relationship?

Short Essay Questions

1. What area of her property does Sylvia devote special care and attention to?

2. What has happened to the town of Pinewood in recent years?

3. How does Sylvia feel about JJ Ferguson?

4. What was Sylvia's impression of Alice Graham, JJ's grandmother who took him in after his father killed his mother?

5. What was the original purpose of Development Drive, where Sylvia's house is?

6. What happens in Chapter 12 when Sylvia calls Devon?

7. How does Sylvia respond to JJ when he tells her he still has feelings for Ava?

8. Where does Ava reveal the most personal details of her anguish over her infertility?

9. What does JJ always call Sylvia?

10. How do Marcus and Sylvia first become connected?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay explaining why you think Sylvia lets her husband Don back into the house and seems to still love him even after he has been cheating on her for a lengthy period of time with a much younger woman.

Essay Topic 2

Sylvia and Ava have a loving - but complicated - mother-daughter relationship. Write an essay analyzing the nature of Sylvia's and Ava's relationship, exploring the events from their past and their shared family history that contribute significantly to the tensions between them.

Essay Topic 3

Of all the characters in the novel, which character or characters seem to have achieved the greatest degree of peace and contentment by the end? Write an essay explaining your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 651 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample