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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 does Kate say she's done to cause her back to hurt?

2. What kind of flowers does Kate say were planted and died near the Christmas trees?

3. What does Ellen win for her essay on euthanasia?

4. What was Ellen's class rank among her high school class?

5. What does Ellen first think she's hearing when she's wakened by her mother's cries?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the new arrangement Dr. Cohn says she's going to make for Kate and what is Ellen's reaction?

2. Describe Ellen's brothers.

3. What does Ellen say about the way people greeted Ellen and Kate?

4. Why does Kate say she prefers to do things from scratch rather than buying them, such as buying canned chicken broth? What is Ellen's response?

5. What does Ellen expect she'll find with regard to her mother's physical condition and what does she actually find?

6. Briefly describe the conversation that occurs when one of the women asks if George is taking time off.

7. What is Ellen's reaction to Jonathan's news when he calls her?

8. What is Ellen's response when Dr. Cohn suggests that it's time to consider hospice or a hospital?

9. What is Ellen's father's solution to her mother's need for nursing care and what is Ellen's suggestion?

10. What is Jonathan's relationship with his mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the most important scene in the book? Why? Why is that scene effective? Which is more important to that scene: the action or the setting? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Kate doesn't want to have to have Ellen's help with personal hygiene such as bathing and dressing. Explain Kate's attitude. When the time comes that Kate has to call on Ellen to help her out of the bath, Ellen does so without complaint. Why is Kate reluctant to call on her routinely after that? What does Ellen say about how their relationship would change at that point? Is she correct?

Essay Topic 3

When Ellen and George have lunch together as her mother is becoming increasingly more dependent on pain medication, George says that it's time for them to begin planning Kate's funeral. Ellen says that her father asks too much of her and always has. What does Ellen mean? What is George's reaction? What does this say about their relationship?

(see the answer keys)

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