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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 does Lia say when she answers Cassie's calls?

2. What is Lia blamed for concerning Cassie?

3. What does Lia say yes to without thinking once she arrives where she is going?

4. What does Lia feel like doing when she looks at Cassie in the coffin?

5. Who calls Lia as she is about to drive to school?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jennifer feel about Cassie's death?

2. What does Chloe insist about Lia and what is Jennifer's proof otherwise?

3. How does Lia get out of going to school that morning and where does she go?

4. What does Lia's scale reveal to her and what is her response?

5. What have Lia's teachers organized and how does Lia react when she joins the group of students?

6. What does Elijah ask Lia and what does Lia do in response?

7. What does Lia do against the advice of her parents and what does Lia keep imagining?

8. What do the two detectives who question Lia ask and what does she tell them?

9. What does Lia have for breakfast and what is her hope will happen as a result?

10. Over what does Lia obsess after Jennifer and Emma leave the house?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the movie theater, Lia cuts her hips with a razorblade, another form of self-mutilation. Cutting is a different type of pain than starvation. It is immediate, and many cutters feel the need to self-harm when faced with extremely painful emotion. Because they cannot control the emotional pain, they feel the need to control their physical pain, creating a physical outlet for what is happening inside them. Clearly, this is what is happening with Lia. The visit to the motel had a profound emotional effect on her but she does not have the coping skills to deal with her grief. She is too controlled to cry or ask for help so her pain needs a different outlet: a physical one.

1. Explain what you think are the reasons that Lia cuts herself. Use examples from your own life and "Wintergirls" to support your reasoning.

2. Do you think it is always necessary to control emotional pain? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and "Wintergirls" to support your reasoning.

3. What do you think are some of the coping skills a teenager might use to deal with emotional pain? Use examples from your own life and "Wintergirls" to support your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

Lia bribes Elijah for help with food and convinces him to take her with him to Mississippi. Biblically, Elijah is a character known for raising the dead, so keen readers will have high expectations for this novel's Elijah. It is unexpected, then, when Lia awakens from sleep to find that Elijah has stolen her money and abandoned her. In a way, it appears that Elijah has not lived up to his namesake, and that he has betrayed his friendship to Lia. When the reader truly considers what friendship is, however, they may reconsider their reaction to Elijah's actions. Friendship should mean one individual wanting the best for another. If Elijah had taken Lia with him to Mississippi, he would have been enabling her disease. By forcing her to ask her family for help, Elijah truly is doing what is best for her. At the end of the novel, Lia does reach out to her family and she eventually gets the help she needs. In a way, this novel's Elijah has fulfilled his role of raising the dead.

1. Discuss, in depth, reasons why Elijah might have run from Lia. Use examples from your own life and "Wintergirls" to support your reasoning.

2. Do you think Elijah is a true friend for abandoning Lia and telling her to talk to her parents? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and the text to support your reasoning.

3. Do you think Elijah did what he did because it was best for Lia or because it was best for himself? Why? Use examples from your own life and "Wintergirls" to support your reasoning.

Essay Topic 3

Characters are an integral and important part of almost all novels. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Cassie and Lia. How are they similar? How are they different? Is there a flaw in each of their personalities? Be specific and give examples.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of Lia's Mother and Lia's Father. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character?

3. Thoroughly analyze how three of the secondary characters in "Wintergirls" help drive the plot and what their contribution is to the storyline. Are any of the secondary characters unnecessary? Indispensable? Which of the secondary characters are likable? Which are either unlikable or even despicable? Be specific and give examples.

(see the answer keys)

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