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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. Where does Eleanor say was the one place she could relax during her childhood, before the fire?

2. How does Eleanor describe her cat?

3. Who sends Eleanor a basket of flowers while she is healing?

4. Of what does the raised platform on which Sammy is laid at his funeral remind Eleanor?

5. What is Eleanor not supposed to do in front of a stranger, according to her mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Eleanor say she is ready to do the day of the big concert?

2. How does Eleanor react to hearing Maria say that all people have emotional needs that must be met?

3. Why does Eleanor tell Raymond she is a survivor and why is this signficant?

4. What does Raymond ask Eleanor right before they part ways at the end of the novel, and what does this suggest about his feelings for Eleanor?

5. In what ways does Eleanor seem like a stronger person by the end of the novel?

6. Why does Eleanor feel so much pressure to find a suitable boyfriend, according to the phone conversation with her mother?

7. Why did Raymond come looking for Eleanor, at her apartment?

8. Why does Maria tell Eleanor to forgive herself?

9. How does Eleanor react when she wears her new outfit to work and gets attention from her co-workers?

10. What does Eleanor call her mother when speaking to Raymond at the end of the novel, and why does she use this term?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In therapy, Eleanor learns that all children (and people) have emotional needs. Analyze what specific emotional needs Eleanor did not have met by her mother and describe the various ways Eleanor tried to cover those innate emotional needs.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay defining unconditional love from Eleanor’s perspective. In her eyes, what does it mean to love something or someone unconditionally? How has Eleanor learned this lesson?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Eleanor’s relationship with her cat Glen. What important lessons and skills does she learn from Glen? What impact does Glen have on her life?

(see the answer keys)

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