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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 the narrator notice about the fountain in town?

2. What is significant about the narrator's brother drowning?

3. What does the narrator say she should have studied instead of art?

4. At the end of the chapter the narrator reveals the attitude that

5. Who arrives on the island at the start of the chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the narrator refuse to believe David and Anna's story about her father?

2. In what time period did the narrator grow up?

3. What does the narrator decide about being a victim?

4. In what way is Anna like "a burned leech?"

5. What does the narrator decide about marriage at the end of the chapter?

6. Both of the childhood rhymes mentioned in the chapter have to do with what subject? Why are they important?

7. What is significant about the fact that the others have locked the narrator out of the cabin?

8. Describe the narrator's relationship with other children.

9. What does the narrator reveal about the lake and river?

10. What does the narrator believe she sees at the end of the chapter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Create an argument in which you define and defend a position on what it means to be "natural." Consider the setting of the novel and the narrator's continual desire to return to a more natural state. Use the text to defend your position.

Essay Topic 2

The narrator's views on taking life change throughout the course of the novel. Write an essay in which you discuss the narrator's development and her changing views on the value of life. Use at least three examples from the text to support your argument.

Essay Topic 3

The narrator in Atwood's novel remains nameless throughout. Consider the idea that, "Some people think that if they change the names of things, the things themselves will have changed, too." How does the narrator's namelessness contribute to any of Atwood's messages in the novel?

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This section contains 843 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample