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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 is one reason Lina tells her discussion group it is hard to leave her husband?

2. In the second section focused on Maggie in Part II, where does Maggie really want to go to college?

3. Who in Maggie's class asks a crass question to Mr. Knodel when Mr. Knodel tells the class about his illness?

4. How old is the man Maggie becomes involved with in Hawaii?

5. What kind of illness did Mr. Knodel disclose that he had to Maggie's class?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Lina most frustrated about in her marriage with Ed?

2. What is Lina slightly turned off by at the end of her first sexual encounter with Aidan when they begin their affair?

3. When does Maggie start to think that Mr. Knodel's texts are becoming a bit strange for a student-teacher relationship?

4. What does Aaron Knodel's defense lawyer ask Maggie about in Part I on the stand that the state's prosecution lawyer objects to?

5. How does Lina get back in touch with Aidan after so many years?

6. How does Sloane's and Richard's first threesome come about?

7. In Part I, what initially enchants Lina about her physical relationship with Aidan as a teenager?

8. In the Prologue, what is Taddeo horrified to hear her own mother endured every day for a time as a young woman in Italy?

9. Why do Sloane and Richard decide to start their own restaurant in Newport?

10. What does Lina sometimes find herself asking Ed to try to make up for her husband's emotional and physical detachment?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Sloane's and Richard's involvement with Wes ruins his relationship with his partner and the mother of his children, Jenny, what bothers Sloane the most about Jenny's perception of what happened? Why does Sloane have such a powerful reaction when Jenny tells Sloane she is the woman and asks her "Don't you know you're supposed to have the power?" (283). Write an essay analyzing Sloane's reactions to Jenny's accusations, paying particular attention to how Jenny's accusations force Sloane to confront some uncomfortable truths about her relationship with Richard.

Essay Topic 2

What are some of the reasons Sloane is sometimes convinced that her and her husband's sexual preferences and tastes are unsavory to most other people? What are some of Sloane's primary worries and anxieties about the sexual activities she and Richard regularly engage in?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing how Lina understands, and begins to deal with, her rape by several high school boys. How does Lina's perspective on this assault change as she grows from an adolescent into an adult? Cite specific references to the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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