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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. Why does Elizabeth not want her mother to visit the O'Connor house?

2. What does Aisling want to do before marrying in Chapter 9?

3. What is the name of the abortionist that Elizabeth goes to?

4. In Chapter 9, according to Elizabeth, what, at her age has she grown past?

5. What does Elizabeth refuse to do in her relationship with Stone in Chapter 9?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Violet announce the day before Elizabeth's sixteenth birthday?

2. What could have interfered with Eileen's willingness to take in Elizabeth?

3. In Chapter 9, why does Aisling decide she wants to travel? What opportunity soon presents itself?

4. When Elizabeth sees Violet and Harry in Chapter 8, what does Harry encourage her to do? How has her mother changed?

5. What does Elizabeth pray for in Chapter 5?

6. What horrifies young Sean when Elizabeth arrives in Chapter 2?

7. How is Elizabeth accommodated as a non-Catholic? What do the nuns fail to notice about her in Chapter 4?

8. How does Joannie end up being sent to a convent school in Chapter 7?

9. What happens when Sean Jr. fails his Leaving Certificate examination?

10. In Chapter 3, what do Elizabeth's and Eileen's first letters to the Whites refer to?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author of the novel "Light a Penny Candle", Maeve Binchy. What other books has she written? Is this novel similar to her other works in term of plot, tone and genre? How is her work received by critics?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of religion in the novel "Light a Penny Candle". How does Elizabeth's move to Ireland introduce her to a new faith? How does her new faith influence her? What is the connection between the novel's motif of guilt and its theme of religion? Are Elizabeth and Aisling religious people?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze and interpret the parent-child relationships in the novel. Discuss the ups and downs of the following relationships:

a) Elizabeth and Violet/ Harry.

b) Elizabeth and George.

c) Sean Sr. and Sean Jr.

d) Aisling and Eileen.

(see the answer keys)

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