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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. What do the people do when the orders come?

2. What do the police take from the women at Beaune-la-Rolande?

3. Where does the girl's parents' fear come from?

4. What makes Julia worry when she gets pregnant?

5. What does the girl do when her father tells her what is happening?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the girl and her mother treated as they leave the apartment building?

2. How does the narrator say the girl and her mother react differently to the conditions at Beaune-la-Rolande?

3. What is the larger context for the story, and how does the story clue us in to that larger context?

4. What does Mame Tézac have to do with the events of the Vel d'Hiv' roundup?

5. How does the narrator characterize Julia and Zoe?

6. What are conditions like at the location where the buses take the girl and her mother?

7. What does the girl do when the girls are separated from their mothers?

8. What restrictions have the Jews had to obey under the Vichy government?

9. What lead does Julia get for gathering more information about Vel d'Hiv' during her trip there?

10. Describe the conditions at Beaune-la-Rolande.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Julia Jaramond is an American who has spent twenty-five years in France, and Sarah Starzynski is a Polish Jew living in Paris. Describe the importance, in "Sarah's Key", of nationality and home. Who feels 'at home' and how are these characters different from characters who have a different relationship with place?

Essay Topic 2

Write a character sketch of the author based on his style and content. What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

Essay Topic 3

What kind of money does Julia Jaramond have, that she can afford so much travel in search of a dead person's stories? How does her wealth compare or contrast with the lower-class families who were rounded up at Vel d'Hiv'? Money is not mentioned explicitly in the novel, but how does it form an aspect of the historical context of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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