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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. How do the Monopoly players find out about the wedding ceremony of the person they know well?

2. What does the buffet table usually have an overabundance of when they set up for the picnic for the church's 1903 founding?

3. Ginny's mother had not been afraid of _________, but afraid of the life her daughters would lead after that happened.

4. Where would this new operation in #64 be situated once the loans and paperwork were in order?

5. After a church service, Ginny urges _________ to make amends with Larry as she thinks it's the right thing to do.

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Ginny and the girls encounter when they arrive home after their swimming trip?

2. How does Ginny describe the dimensions of her flat world as an 8-year-old in 1951?

3. What happened when the trucks and the tractors broke during the past when Larry and Harold were around?

4. When Ginny takes her nieces to the swimming pool, what do they complain about to her?

5. What did Ginny and Rose create inside of their mother's closet when they were little?

6. What did Ginny and Rose do in order to help Caroline grow up well even though her mother had died?

7. What happens to the kitchen cabinets that Larry purchases, even though he doesn't need them?

8. What happened to Ginny's grandmother's grandparents find when they arrived in the United States from England?

9. When Pete mentions overhearing that Harold is going to be changing his will, how does Jess respond?

10. What is Marc Griffin, the banker, worried about in relation to the actions of Larry on his farm?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ginny finally escapes the farm and the country, leaving without explanation and without any plan for her future.

Part 1: Why do you think Ginny decided to leave when she did?

Part 2: Why do you think Ginny decided to leave without telling anyone she was going?

Part 3: What do Ginny's actions surrounding leaving say about her and about her emotional state at the time of her departure?

Essay Topic 2

One might say that parts of the story were simply out of the hands of the characters. For example, the role of disease and illness seem to be out of the hands of the characters, though the actions of Larry seem to be within his control.

Part 1: Do you think that that characters had more opportunities to change their lives? Why or why not?

Part 2: Why didn't some of the characters try to change their lives and redirect their experiences?

Part 3: Do you think the book supports the idea of nature being in control of our lives or of free will being in charge? Why did you choose the answer you did?

Essay Topic 3

Many of the characters have their moments of seeming to be normal and well-adjusted and even happy, but at other times, these are simply guises under which they hide.

Part 1: Why do you think so many characters hide their true feelings in this story?

Part 2: What does it say about the author's own ability to trust people at face value?

Part 3: How might the story have been different had the characters simply acted in an honest and authentic way?

(see the answer keys)

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