View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word from Chapter 1 refers to failing to act as a result of moral weakness?

2. For how long did Veronica's mother say they had lived in their current home when the narrator asked during his visit in Chapter 1?

3. Where did Veronica depart to when she left after visiting the narrator and his friends in London in Chapter 1?

4. The narrator told Alex that he wondered if who felt any responsibility for Adrian's suicide in Chapter 1?

5. The narrator says in Chapter 1 that he and his friends assured one another that the imagination's first duty was to be what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the meeting with his friends one year after Adrian's suicide?

2. How does the dynamic of the narrator's group of friend's change with the introduction of Adrian?

3. What is the significance of the memory fragments that are presented by the narrator in the opening of Chapter 1?

4. What led to the protagonist's divorce?

5. What is the protagonist's mother's theory regarding Adrian's suicide? How does the protagonist respond to this theory?

6. What philosophical arguments are made regarding the act of suicide among the protagonist and his friends during high school?

7. In the present tense narrative, what are the protagonist's circumstances as described in the conclusion of Chapter 1?

8. Where do the protagonist and his friends go to college after high school?

9. Who commits suicide during the ptrotagonist's high school years? Why?

10. Whom did the protagonist marry? How does he describe the early years of their marriage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of time in The Sense of an Ending. What commentary does the narrator make on the passage of time? How does the passage of time change in a person's life? How does the theme of time relate to the theme of memory?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Tony's trio of friends during high school and their relationships. What brings these boys together? How do they show their dedication to their "pack"? What are their main shared interests?

Essay Topic 3

How do the relationships between the protagonist/narrator and his friends change after high school? Where does each attend college? How and how well do they stay in communication with one another?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 798 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample