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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 the narrator say is the downside of her genetic inheritance?

2. What kind of books does Colette write?

3. What does Mogaro's attorney suggest is the primary reason for the police's suspicion of Mogaro?

4. In Chapter Eleven, where does Francie go when she tells Lowell that she is leaving to meet the May Mothers?

5. What is the name of the suspect mentioned in the file that Colette copied?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Colette takes the Midas file for the second time, what does she see that links her to the case and what does she do with it?

2. How do the Prologue and Chapter One characterize the narrator?

3. Why does Francie bring a camera with her to the park in Chapter 10?

4. In Chapter Eight, what memory does Nell suddenly have related to smoking?

5. In Chapter Nine, what has changed about the narrator's situation?

6. In Chapter Eleven, what does Francie decide the police need to investigate further?

7. How do Chapters One through Three characterize Nell?

8. When Colette is at the park in Chapter Eight, what secret desire is she thinking about, and what stops her from trying to obtain it?

9. What does Francie mention having seen on Patricia Faith's television show, and how does Nell react?

10. What do the Prologue and Chapter One make clear was the father's reaction to the narrator's pregnancy, and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How are the heterosexual relationships in The Perfect Mother similar to and different from the same-sex friendships portrayed in the novel? Consider the variety and complexity of the current partnerships between the women and their children's fathers as well as the women's previous sexual and romantic relationships. Also think about the number of abusive or coercive encounters with men that the main female characters have had, and consider what message these are conveying. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the qualities of the female friendships and the heterosexual romantic/sexual relationships portrayed in the novel. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

What message about the importance of perspective is conveyed in The Perfect Mother? How do the novel's multiple narrative points-of-view and perspectives contribute to this message? How do the characterizations of Scarlett, Francie, Colette, and Nell contribute? What role does the non-chronological opening play in reinforcing this message? How is this message related to the ironic counterpoint between the newsletters and the main text? How is it related to the dichotomy between the public's perception of the police and politicians and Molloy's characterization of actual officers and politicians in the text? What other elements of the novel support the novel's thematic concern with perspective-taking? Write an essay that analyzes how several elements of the novel work together to convey a message about perspective. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Given the thematic motifs in The Perfect Mother, why is it so appropriate that the solution to the mystery it contains rests on the reader finally understanding how identities have been obscured by assumptions? By the end of the novel, the reader is aware of having misunderstood the identities of Joshua, Token, and the first-person narrator. The novel's puzzle can only be solved when the reader fully understands each of these identities. What does this have to do with other aspects of the novel, such as the media's misrepresentation of people and the emphasis on perspective created by shifts in narrative point of view and perspective? Write an essay in which you consider how the inference gaps that structure this mystery mimic the novel's thematic concerns. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

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