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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. When does Anne go up to the man her daughter thought was Emmanuel Constant?

2. What is Emmanuel Constant wanted for?

3. What is the importance of the date of the final scene in the chapter "Water Child"?

4. What is Anne’s favorite Christmas song?

5. What country does The Book of the Dead come from?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ka’s mother answer when Ka asks her how she can love him?

2. What do Eric and his wife do when they go out on the weekend?

3. What is Eric’s relationship with his roommates like?

4. What is the significance of Ka’s name?

5. How does Ka end the conversation with her mother?

6. What causes Nadine to call her parents?

7. What political event captivates Eric’s wife during her first week in New York?

8. What is the occasion that Eric’s wife coming to New York?

9. What emergency is Nadine called in to resolve in Ms. Hinds’ room?

10. What is Ka’s father’s objection to the sculpture?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Writing and speaking are prominent themes in The Dew Breaker, as are being silent or losing the ability to speak. How do events silence people in The Dew Breaker, and how do characters regain their voices? Is the novel itself a character in the novel—insofar as the narrator’s third-person omniscient perspective provides the characters themselves with the insight or articulation they crave? What does the novel itself ultimately say for them?

Essay Topic 2

What role do superstition and religion play in The Dew Breaker? Who is moved by them, and how are they moved? Who is not moved by them, and how does the immunity, such as it is, serve as either an advantage or disadvantage? What can you say about Danticat’s approach to superstition and religion in The Dew Breaker?

Essay Topic 3

Write a character sketch of the author based on her style and content. What can we tell about her, based on the choices she makes in terms of description, characterization and plot? What values does she hold dear? What are her hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think she is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

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