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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 is the weather like when Mary goes for a walk her first night in St. Hilaire?

2. When Maureen learns she is pregnant, what does she do to celebrate?

3. Where do Harrold and Maureen both work when they first meet?

4. What does Mary's baby do the first day they are in the cottage that makes Mary's heart swell?

5. Where is Harrold the night Maureen gives birth?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the setting of St. Hilaire.

2. What does Maureen do when she goes to the general store in St. Hilaire?

3. How does Everett Shed describe the town of St. Hilaire and his role in it when he is interviewed by Helen?

4. What keeps Mary awake her first night at the cottage?

5. What does Harrold hear when he is talking on the phone with Maureen while she is staying at a hotel in Los Angeles?

6. What happens when Maureen goes into labor?

7. How does Harrold react when Maureen has a cold and indicates she wants to be by herself one evening?

8. How does Julia Strout describe Mary to the reporter Helen Scofield?

9. Describe Harrold's physical appearance.

10. Is Muriel Noyers sympathetic to Maureen?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What happens between Maureen and Harrold the night that Maureen runs away to Maine? Why does this event make her determined to separate herself from him? How is she smarter about the choices she makes in getting away this time?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Mary's decision-making process when she decides to kill Harrold. What other alternatives does she explore and discard before she decides to kill him with Jack's gun? What does she believe she will never have if he lives?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how Harrold loses control at the cottage. What enrages him? Do you think he will kill Mary "eventually"?

(see the answer keys)

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