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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. Who is the author of "The Leap"?

2. What is the name of the narrator's mother's act?

3. What happened during Harold and Anna's act just before they were able to clasp hands in midair?

4. How many acts performed before Anna and her husband's act on the day of the disaster?

5. In paragraph 3, where does the narrator say she gets her information about her mother's disaster?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. 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?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of sight in “The Leap.”

Essay Topic 2

Genre is a category assigned to a literary work, like a novel. What are some genres that could be used to classify the story? Explain.

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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