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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 Graham call and tell Jamie the night before closing statements in the trial?

2. Who refuses to help Graham with Jamie's defense?

3. Who is Bud Spitlick?

4. What kind of look does the coroner say Maggie had on her face when she died?

5. Where did Maggie meet her best friend?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Cam gets a call about a robbery in progress on Thanksgiving?

2. What does Graham warn Jamie about after the jury is selected?

3. Why does Jamie think he hasn't seen or felt Maggie since her death?

4. What did Jamie and Maggie do on their last night together?

5. What does Allie discover on New Year's Eve?

6. What does Cam say and do while he is on the witness stand?

7. Why is Graham nervous after Jamie's trial date is set?

8. What does Jamie realize when he sees Maggie's ghost in the copy room at the courthouse?

9. What happens in Cam's dream at the end of the novel?

10. What several things happen the Monday morning after Cam and Mia's trip to New Hampshire?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss how dreams are used throughout the novel to give insight into characters and illuminate themes.

Essay Topic 2

Dicuss the quote at the beginning of Part II in terms of who and what you think Picoult is referring to. Who was bold in their actions? Was mercy received and was it what the character(s) is expecting it to be?

"Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy." -Shakespeare, Timmons of Athens

Essay Topic 3

Why does Picoult begin the novel with these lines from a William Carlos Williams poem: "What power has love but forgiveness?/ In other words/ by its intervention/ what has been done/ can be undone./ What good is it otherwise?" What is the significance of these words to the plot and themes of Mercy? What is the difference between forgiveness and mercy?

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