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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. Who is Mclean very happy to see at the restaurant?

2. What do the students want to include on the model?

3. What does Mclean offer to do if her mother will drop the legal action?

4. Where do Mclean and her mother stay on their beach vacation?

5. What does Mclean not have for the beach vacation?

Short Essay Questions

1. What makes Mclean so upset that she takes off from the beach house in her old car?

2. How had Mclean misunderstood what her mother said to her friend at the beach house that had made Mclean so upset?

3. What is unusual about Mclean's seeing her mother on TV when David and his father are over watching the game?

4. What has happened to David as a result of Mclean's calling him to come to the Poseidon the night she was so upset?

5. How does Mclean's mother respond when Mclean confronts her on the phone about the choices her mother has made that have impacted their lives?

6. How does Mclean learn about her father's new job in Hawaii and how does she feel about going there?

7. What good comes out of Mclean's stay at the Poseidon regarding her parents' views of her?

8. What does Lindsay do with Mclean's father at the restaurant that flusters Opal and starts to make Mclean feel like she's on shaky ground?

9. How does Mclean feel about being in this town after living here for two months?

10. Why does Mclean feel like she is being pushed out of her mother's house when she sees her things in storage and where does she go for a feeling of solidity?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Mclean's relationship with her mother. How does she feel about her even though she has made her life difficult at times? Is the relationship especially difficult because of Mclean's mother's infidelity and the subsequent divorce? How does Mclean's kindness and forgiveness help define their important bond?

Essay Topic 2

Explain Mclean's method of creating a new persona each time she enters a new school. Why does Mclean feel the need to reinvent herself with each move? What is the underlying psychological reason that Mclean creates her different identities?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Opal. What is her role in the story? What was the author trying to accomplish by developing Opal's character in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,195 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample