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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 MacDonald say is young?

2. What is MacDonald's first name?

3. What does the Solid Person remind Pam that her son was at first?

4. What does Sarah call the Dwarf?

5. Who is Robert to the Ghost who insists on not seeing him?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator feel after his encounter with the Hard-Bitten Ghost? Why?

2. What does the Female Ghost say about the flowers she put on Robert's desk?

3. Who does MacDonald say is the only Bright Person who can get into Hell? Why?

4. What does the Tragedian do that makes the dwarf get smaller? What does Sarah say about this?

5. What does MacDonald tell the narrator about the beautiful woman in the procession?

6. How does MacDonald explain Heaven, Hell and Purgatory to the narrator?

7. How does MacDonald explain the size of Hell to the narrator?

8. What does Sarah do when the dwarf disappears?

9. What happens when the ghost with the lizard allows the Bright Person to kill the lizard?

10. Why does the Female Ghost encountered by the narrator and MacDonald say she wouldn't stay in Heaven?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the themes of love and lust in The Great Divorce. How are "defective love" and "lust" compared? How does the author exemplify this through parable?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the plot structure of The Great Divorce. Include examples of and define the terms rising action, climax, and falling action in your discussion.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the finals scenes the narrator encounters in The Great Divorce. What are the meanings of the symbols here? What does the table represent? The chess figures? How does this relate to the themes of the novel?

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