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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. Which company offered loans to the farmers in Lessing's region?

2. Which of the following names does Lessing give the personality that would comes out of her while under the influence of drugs?

3. How many biographers were writing about Lessing at the time that she wrote the book?

4. Who stated that children should play in mud?

5. What did the doctor prescribe to alleviate Lessing's mother's ailment?

Short Essay Questions

1. What sensation predominated Lessing's childhood?

2. In Chapter 8, how did the girls at the school avoid exams?

3. From the details Lessing provides in Chapter 1, describe the circumstances which led to Maude's broken heart.

4. Quoting a recent historian, to what major event does Lessing attribute current feelings of mistrust toward the government?

5. Describe the conflict between Lessing's parents regarding the servants.

6. In Chapter 7, what did Lessing and her brother do in the bush?

7. What did Lessing do one night when she was forced to remain in the cabin while her parents attended a dance?

8. Why did Lessing's parents have all their teeth removed before leaving for Africa?

9. How did Lessing become an atheist?

10. While their mother was bedridden, what did Lessing and her brother do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

History plays a key role in forming the text of the autobiography. Examine the ways in which Lessing relied on, recounted, or challenged history in the text. How central was history in Lessing's understanding of her own life? How essential was Lessing's life in her understanding of history? Were those two elements inextricably linked? What did Lessing's autobiography contribute to your understanding of history, understanding of historical events, or the way in which history is recorded?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the way in which Lessing discussed children and childhood in her autobiography. Children appeared throughout the work, as Lessing explored her own childhood, as well as the children who she had with her various partners. How did she present childhood in the text? How did Lessing feel that children should be treated? How did she treat them in her portrayal of them? How did having children affect Lessing's life?

Essay Topic 3

As Lessing recounted the details of her young adult life, she commented on the institution of marriage through a discussion of her three unsuccessful unions. Examine Lessing's position on marriage and divorce in the text. Was her notion of marriage and divorce congruent with the notion of marriage and/or divorce at that time? If not, how did her opinion vary? What were her messages regarding marriage and divorce customs in the British Empire at that time?

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