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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 Ellen say she can't be angry with George?

2. Why does Kate say she won't read anymore?

3. What is George feeding Kate when Ellen stops by the den that night?

4. What is Ellen's answer when the prosecutor asks if she killed Kate?

5. What does Ellen say about her mother's loss of vision?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Ellen think about when Jeff asks if she has a message for Jon? What is her message?

2. What is Ellen doing that causes the newspaper stories to say that Ellen was "fleeing?"

3. Why does Ellen say that no one acknowledges the ribbons on her mother's wheelchair wheels?

4. What does Jeff say about Brian's problems at college and what is Ellen's response?

5. What is the conversation Ellen and Kate have when Hally gives Kate the photo of her newborn baby?

6. What changes on the day when Kate calls for Ellen to help her out of the tub?

7. What are Ellen's theories about why Mrs. Duane and Kate don't talk about men while they're having lunch together?

8. What does Mrs. Forburg say about why teaching is important to her and what does she say about understanding Ellen's challenges as a student?

9. Describe some of the reactions to Ellen's arrest.

10. What does Teresa say when Ellen asks if she's curious as to why George is never home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ellen and her mother are, in many ways, opposites. Compare the characters and Ellen and Kate. What are their most striking differences? Similarities? How and why do their characters change over the course of the story?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Ellen's relief that her mother's suffering is over is seen by some as an admission of guilt, especially when she's able to sleep so soundly her first night in jail. Describe Ellen's reaction to her mother's death, to her arrest and to her trial. Which of the reactions is most believable? Which is least? Why doesn't Ellen tell that she believes her father gave her mother the morphine? Why doesn't her father come forward?

(see the answer keys)

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