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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. At the house where Maria has her abortion, what is the doctor's table NOT fitted with?

2. What city does Maria have her abortion in?

3. When Helene arrives at the hospital to see Maria as the novel opens, what is she told?

4. As the novel opens, what fictional character does Maria say she does NOT ask what makes this person evil?

5. At BZ and Helene's, why does Maria focus on remembering brushing Kate's hair?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Maria tells Carter that she is pregnant and that he may not be the father, how does he respond and why is it significant?

2. Where did Maria grow up and why is it significant?

3. What kind of arrangements does Maria have to make in order to terminate her pregnancy at this time?

4. How does Maria's mother die and why is it significant?

5. How do Larry Kulik and BZ behave around the girl in the white halter dress at a party Maria attends and why is it significant?

6. What time does Maria want to be on the freeway and why is it significant?

7. What does Maria do the first month after she and Carter break up and what does it signify?

8. When Freddy offers Maria an opportunity for Morty Landau to see film of her, what does her response indicate about her priorities?

9. How does Maria feel after her abortion and what does it signify?

10. When Maria thinks of the men that she has been intimate in her life, what conclusion does she come to and how is it important to the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the treatment of women in the novel. What roles are women valued for and why? What is the relationship between equality and power in the ways in which women are treated?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the relationship between mothers and daughters in the novel.

1. What is the nature of Maria and Kate's relationship?

2. What is the nature of Maria and her mother's relationship?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss loss as a major theme in the novel. What has Maria lost in her life and how does she cope with loss?

(see the answer keys)

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