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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 request does Julia make of Plum the first time they meet?

2. With what two words do the pleas Plum receives from teenage girls always begin?

3. Verena tells Plum that "the weight-loss industry is the most" what type of "failed industry in history" (98)?

4. How long does the Baptist Diet meeting leader tell Plum it will take for her to lose all the weight?

5. Verena tells Plum that if Plum has bariatric surgery, then she will no longer be the spitting image of which one of her family members?

Short Essay Questions

1. What significant event happens in the spring of Plum's junior year of high school?

2. Discuss the significance of Plum's clothing organization choices in the first part of the novel.

3. What causes Julia to ask Plum if she will hand over the 50,000 plus email addresses of teenage girls who have written to Kitty?

4. What quality of The Calliope House does Verena say had made her choose it as the location for her feminist collective?

5. Discuss the difference between Alicia and Plum at the start of the novel.

6. How does the motif of the italicized word "Burst!" (42) coincide with the theme of self-hatred?

7. What has always been Plum's dream career?

8. What is the identifying feature of Leeta's appearance?

9. How does Janine's outburst at the Baptist Diet meeting foreshadow Plum's own coming changes?

10. What is the significance of the news story about Jayson Fox, the young rap star from Los Angeles?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's use of humor alongside humanist messages within the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Look carefully at the passages of the novel that describe Plum's responses to the teenage girls who write questions to Kitty. What is the author's purpose for discussing at length the nature of Plum's role as a ghostwriter for Kitty?

Essay Topic 3

Explicate the theme of indoctrination within the novel, particularly in relation to the novel's protagonist. What is the author's message regarding societal indoctrination and how do you know?

(see the answer keys)

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