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 does Piri characterize her mother's state of mind on returning home in Chapter 8?

2. To whom did Piri entrust a letter to her parents?

3. Who is Molcha?

4. What political alliance took place at the end of Chapter 9?

5. What did Piri see in the river the morning after the battle?

Short Essay Questions

1. What political event ends Chapter 8?

2. What were the children doing when Piri entered fifth grade?

3. How did current events affect the Passover holiday?

4. Describe Father's visit home.

5. Discuss Farenc's return to Babi's farm.

6. Describe Piri and Iboya's encounter with the armed young men.

7. Why did Babi distrust Farenc?

8. How did Piri communicate with her family in Beregszasz?

9. Describe Piri's parents' visit to Komjaty.

10. Describe Piri's return to Beregszasz.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does 'Upon the Head of a Goat' have a moral, and if so, what is it? How is it conveyed? How is it arrived at, in a narrative that provides contrary views and values?

Essay Topic 2

In Piri's account, what is the cause of the Holocaust that killed 11 million people? Was it simply Anti-Semitism, or does she attribute her family's experiences to other cultural phenomena? How important is it for her to find causes, anyway? If finding causes is not important to her, what is more important? Bearing witness? Testifying? Externalizing the experience?

Essay Topic 3

How does Piri handle the fact that her parents were repeatedly asked to send her away from the war, but did not--and paid the price with their own lives? How does Piri overcome the guilt that comes with having survived something the others did not? Even if the guilt is not explicitly mentioned, if you guess that it's there, how does it change your reading of the memoir?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 711 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample