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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 does Lorelei make too many of for every Easter lunch?

2. What is Beth trying to talk to Meg about when Molly interrupts their phone call to complain about Alfie and her father?

3. When Lorelei and Vicky tell Beth about their romantic relationship, how does Beth respond?

4. On the day that Rhys committed suicide, who took Beth downstairs, away from the scene?

5. What is Beth's covert purpose in talking with Bill about her wardrobe and personal style?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is foreshadowed by Lorelei and Vicky's conversation after Vicky confesses to having given some of Lorelei's things to charity?

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

3. What is the one thing about Lorelei that Vicky cannot understand, and how does she try to reconcile herself to it?

4. What lie does Vicky tell Meg about Lorelei's hoarding during Easter of 1999, and why does she tell this lie?

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

6. How does Colin end up as Lorelei's next-door neighbor?

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

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

9. What foreshadowing alerts the reader that something terrible has happened between Meg and Beth?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the function of the incest motif in The House We Grew Up In? How does it impact the reader's understanding of the characters and their struggles in life? How does it convey messages about healthy and unhealthy family relationships? Write an essay in which you describe how this motif is developed in the lives of the various family members, analyze the nature of this alleged "incest," and then advance a theory about what purpose Jewell intends the motif to serve. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from diction, details, narrative perspective, and plot.

Essay Topic 2

You have spent some time considering how the loss of Rhys impacted Rory later in life. Now, choose a different family member and write an essay that makes and defends a claim about how Rhys's death impacted this character. Consider their relationship with Rhys, their individual personality and capabilities, and in what way their later life might have been different had Rhys lived a natural lifespan. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the novel.

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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