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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 detail about Anna does the narrator note was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

2. What condition does the narrator's mother have as explained in paragraph 1?

3. Where does the narrator say she used to live in paragraph 4?

4. What does the narrator point out in paragraph one about how her mother moves through the house?

5. In paragraph 6, what does the narrator say her mother is able to live comfortably in?

Short Essay Questions

1. What stands in the center of town as a reminder of the disaster? Where does the narrator find out about the events that day?

2. Why does the narrator sometimes forget that her mother was part of the Flying Avalons?

3. Why does the narrator find it unsurprising that her mother was able to perform while seven months pregnant?

4. Why does the narrator say people in the East are at a disadvantage regarding weather changes than those in the West, where she used to live?

5. How is the scene at the circus before the disaster described? What was the weather like? What was the audience doing?

6. What events followed lightning striking the main tent pole while Harold and Anna were performing?

7. Describe Anna and Harold's typical trapeze performance.

8. How does the narrator describe the way her mother moves through their home in New Hampshire in paragraph 1?

9. What detail about Anna was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

10. What type of performer was the narrator's mother? Where does she live and what is her medical condition?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay discussing the setting and time period of “The Leap." In what ways does the time period and setting impact your understanding of the story as well as the themes?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss elements of the narrative structure: Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the story’s themes?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Louise Erdich’s decision to tell the story using third person point-of-view from the narrator's perspective. How does this impact the reader's understanding of the story's events? Is this effective? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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