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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 Lorelei discovers things missing from her "office," what does she believe has happened?

2. When Meg comes home for Easter the year she moves out, what is she especially angry to find that Lorelei has stored in her room?

3. When Rory comes to visit for Easter, what has changed about his hair?

4. What is Lorelei looking for when she discovers that some of her things are missing?

5. What is Lorelei's sister's name?

Short Essay Questions

1. What similarities does Meg see between Alfie and Rhys, and when was she most worried about these similarities?

2. How does Beth's relationship with Jason result from the actions of other people in Beth's life?

3. When Molly asks Meg whether she would have liked Rhys,what is Meg's response?

4. Describe Bill and Beth's relationship as it stands in April of 1999.

5. How does Colin's reaction to the art wall show that even early in the children's lives he is struggling with Lorelei's collecting?

6. What is ironic about Lorelei's characterization of Meg's "frantic reproduction" (1)?

7. When Kayleigh is talking to Beth about quitting smoking, what does Beth assume she is really saying, and why?

8. Describe Meg's complicated mix of feelings about Rhys.

9. In the early years of her relationship with Lorelei, how does Vicky view Lorelei, and how does she view Lorelei's children?

10. How does the very first passage describing a Bird family Easter egg hunt characterize Meg?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On page 142, Beth says that her family members are "like a badly planned dinner party." What does she mean? Do you agree? What are the differences among them that she would point to? What deeper things do they have in common? Write an essay in which you consider how different the Birds really are from one another and what significance exists in the attributes they share. Support your claims with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 2

After finishing the book, the reader should be able to infer where Lorelei was headed in her car on the last day of her life. What motivated her to finally leave Bird House and try to get to Jim's on this particular day? If Jim had been available to answer her emails, do you think she would have gotten in her car to try to get to Gateshead? If Jim had really been trying to end the relationship, what would have happened had Lorelei actually made it to Gateshead? What do you think prevented Lorelei from thinking in a more levelheaded way? Most importantly, why did Jewell choose to have Lorelei die during this first attempt to flee Bird House? Write an essay that takes and defends a position on the significance of Lorelei's death during her attempt to leave Bird House. Consider what this timing says about Lorelei's relationship to the house and the past, and what it says about her relationships with other people--especially romantic partners. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 3

What is the significance of the thematic motif of birds in The House We Grew Up In? How does Jewell use the family name, Lorelei's devotion to the Easter egg hunt and collecting the egg foils, and other references to birds to convey ideas about home and family? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about the symbolic significance of birds and things related to birds in this text. Support your claims with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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