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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 long does Emil's and Ruth's performance of Ariel's chorale composition last?

2. For what purpose does Nathan give Frank and Jake money when he goes to talk to Ruth?

3. Why do Ruth and Emil stop spending time together?

4. Where do Frank and Jake get the money to buy food and games at the celebration?

5. What behavior does Ruth exhibit that lets Frank and Jake know how upset she is and truly frightens them as a result?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the cause of Lise's heightened anxiety and frantic behavior when Nathan goes to Emil's house to talk to Ruth?

2. What timeline does Karl present when he is questioned by the police?

3. What happens to cause suspicion to fall on Warren Redstone in relation to Ariel's disappearance?

4. How does Nathan's sermon affect Frank?

5. How do the themes of racism and larger injustice surface in the aftermath of Ariel's disappearance?

6. In what ways are the complicated nature of the grief cycle demonstrated to the reader through the experiences of Frank and Jake?

7. Why and how does Ruth lose the one person who has served as her comfort throughout the tragedy surrounding Ariel?

8. What causes Ruth to get less and less hopeful about Ariel's safe return as phone calls continue to stream into their home?

9. What, if any, clues do Karl, Frank, Jake, the sheriff, and Officer Doyle find when they get to Sibley Park, the site of the bonfire party?

10. When the sheriff finally notices Frank standing in the doorway after the questioning, what idea does he provide that gives Ruth hope?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Vices often play a role in the narrative, with some characters engaging in drinking, smoking, and gambling, among other activities often considered immoral, or at least troublesome. How does the author use characters' vices in contrast with the themes of faith and innocence within the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Many of the novel's characters have war experiences in their pasts that significantly affect their futures. Choose three of these characters, analyze their relationships to war experiences, and state and prove the author's message about the nature of war.

Essay Topic 3

Like many other coming-of-age books and movies, Ordinary Grace presents the loss of innocence as a theme. Trace Frank's loss of innocence over the course of the novel's narrative. What is the author's purpose for depicting Frank's, as well as other characters', loss of innocence throughout the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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