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. How many older brothers does Thatcher have?

2. What word from Chapter 8 refers to the study of the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms?

3. What is Nick's last name?

4. Why has Nick been hospitalized in Chapter 9?

5. Who is Thatcher's employer at the school with whom he has just met in Chapter 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the setting of Batsto described in Chapter 8?

2. Why has Gwendolyn come to Willa's home in Chapter 9?

3. What is the significance of the names Scylla and Charybdis in the novel?

4. What has Thatcher learned about the house in Chapter 2? Why does this news distress him?

5. When and where is Willa's story set primarily? How is this established?

6. How did Willa obtain the house her family has moved into? How is the house described?

7. How would you describe Thatcher's relationship with Rose in the beginning of the novel?

8. What is Mary Treat doing when Thatcher comes to her home in Chapter 4? Why?

9. How do Thatcher and Rose's childhoods and upbringing differ?

10. What struggles does Willa face with her work in Chapter 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the symbolism of the trees in the novel. In addition to the two trees in the yard at the house on Plum Street, what others appear? What do you think the trees represent? With what type of tree does Thatcher associate Mary? Why is this significant?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's use of irony in the novel. How is irony defined? What different types of irony are there? What are three examples of irony from the text and what purpose does each example serve to the plot, characters, or atmosphere?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the marriage of Thatcher and Rose in the novel. For how long have these characters been married at the onset of the novel? Where did they meet? How does their relationship change in the course of the narrative?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 819 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample