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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 did the Incarnation achieve, according to the author?

2. For the author, what element does praise always contain?

3. With what same quality does the author think his love for H. shared?

4. What does the author consider might be "only one more house of cards"?

5. Why does the author think that Lazarus got a "raw deal"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What question does Lewis ask to begin to reason his way through his pain? How does this question lead Lewis onto new ground?

2. What enormous gain in his sense of God and of H. has Lewis made by the fourth chapter?

3. Why does Lewis think that H.'s physical anguish might not have ended when she died? What images does Lewis use when reflecting on what happens to H. after she died?

4. What human conditions does Lewis admit that he can never fully examine?

5. What is an imperfect religious image with which Lewis is familiar? What is Lewis's reflection on this image?

6. How does Lewis admit that he goes about restoring his faith?

7. What does Lewis want when it comes to reality vs. ideas about reality?

8. At nearly the end of the book, what kind of answer does Lewis receive from God? Briefly, explain what the answer means.

9. What does Lewis mean when he writes about a house of cards?

10. At the beginning of Chapter Four, why does Lewis decide that he will not fill more than four journals?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lewis offers a passage in Chapter Four that is full of similes. Describe the passage, referring to the similes. What does the moment Lewis describes mean? How does it reveal Lewis's progression through deep pain and sorrow? What is noticeably different from Lewis's reflections earlier in the book, especially the first two chapters?

Essay Topic 2

Lewis reflects that people other than his children are having trouble coping with Lewis's grief. He describes various instances and impressions that leave him with distinct opinions about those who grieve.

1) Whom does Lewis encounter that he believes have uncomfortable responses to his obvious agony? Provide general as well as specific examples.

2) How do the people about whom Lewis writes respond to him? Be specific, detailing who and how they respond.

3) What does Lewis conclude about people who are grieving and their place in society?

Essay Topic 3

Before H. died, what were her nearly last words to Lewis? How do those words compare with words of consolation that Lewis hears after H.'s death? Who does Lewis believe and why? If H.'s words were true, what does it mean for her continuing in God's hands? Describe Lewis's feelings about a God in whose hands Lewis sadly finds his departed wife.

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