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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. Where does Richard Misner preach?

2. Where does Mavis's mother live?

3. Why does Gigi remain at the Convent rather than continue on with Roger?

4. Why does Connie have to tend to the old woman?

5. How long does Mavis stay at the Convent, according to the chapter "Mavis"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gigi become stranded at the convent?

2. What is immediately noticeable about Gigi?

3. Why did Seneca go to Wichita, and why was the trip unproductive?

4. What conditions does Mavis's mother place on Mavis being able to stay at her house?

5. Why did Deek tell Roger to make sure all part's of Deek's son's funeral were black?

6. In addition to growing vegetables, what is one of Connie's main tasks at the Convent?

7. Why was the town of Haven not as affected by the Great Depression as most of the rest of the country?

8. Why does Mavis become frightened during the interview, and why does she decide to flee?

9. Why do some of the residents leave Haven to found the town of Ruby?

10. What is one of the things the Morgan twins probably consider when they are trying to decide what to do about Arnette's pregnancy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On multiple occasions the civil authority in the area of Ruby is referred to as the "white law." The "white law" is something no citizen of Ruby wants to come in contact with. Explain what citizens of Ruby mean by "white law" and offer explanations based on information from the text and your own knowledge of history about why citizens of Ruby would fear the "white law."

Essay Topic 2

Describe Morrison's or the narrator's use of language in the novel "Paradise". Is the language elevated to the poetic or is it the everyday language of the rural people of Ruby?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the final line of the book. How does the final line of the book relate to the entire preceding novel? How does this conception of paradise help explain the novel's title?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 730 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample