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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 country is NOT named as one to which Fiona and Grant had traveled during one of their winters after retirement?

2. What kind of game is Fiona watching others play when Grant sees her in the central area?

3. At the time of the narrative's events, Grant is writing a study about myths containing which types of animals?

4. What advice does Kristy offer to Grant at the end of his first visit to see Fiona at Meadowlake?

5. What is NOT a virtue Grant names as being part of the character of "a philanderer" (286)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What would Grant have considered the ultimate price to pay for his adulterous ways?

2. What event involving a policeman had convinced Grant that he could no longer look after Fiona at home?

3. What were the circumstances that led to the engagement between Fiona and Grant?

4. In what month does Fiona move into Meadowlake and why?

5. For what reason was Fiona ostracized by many of her peers at college?

6. What consequences did Fiona suffer as a result of Grant's infidelities?

7. For how long had Fiona and Grant lived in their home at the time when Fiona began to show signs of dementia and why is this detail significant?

8. What event made it possible for both Fiona and Grant to retire early?

9. What advice does Kristy finally give to Grant when he keeps asking the same question over and over?

10. What gift does Grant bring to Fiona when he visits her at Meadowlake for the first time, and what is significant about the gift?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look carefully at the passages of "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" that describe the nature of Grant’s infidelities over his five decades of marriage to Fiona. What is Munro’s purpose for discussing at length the nature of these experiences?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze Munro's story from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

Essay Topic 3

Sensory details are used frequently by Munro in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of "The Bear Came Over the Mountain." Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Munro’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

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