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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 Laura say is the reason she needed her parents in the middle of the night a while back and thus inadvertently saw them having sex?

2. Laura believes that BOB calls her by a certain name for a particular reason. What is that reason?

3. When Laura gets home, her mother tells her that the Log Lady's husband had died, leaving the Log Lady a widow. How did her husband die?

4. How does Benjamin Horne, Laura's father's boss, treat Laura?

5. On the day of her cousin Maddy's arrival, why does Laura not accompany her father to pick Mandy up from the station?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Laura arrives home and asks her mom about the Log Lady, what does Laura's mom tell her?

2. When Donna and Laura leave the guys by the fire in order to relieve themselves, they get really scared. What are they scared of?

3. What event occurs that results in Laura's meeting with the Log Lady?

4. What does Laura say about her feelings after the escapade with the Canadian guys in the woods?

5. How is foreshadowing used within the scene of Laura receiving a pony for her birthday and checking the pony's gender?

6. What prompts Laura to proclaim that she is not sure that the Log Lady had been talking about the right Laura Palmer when she had predicted a happy life?

7. What is Donna's and Laura's goal when they return to the Book House all dressed up in short skirts and made up faces?

8. What had Donna's and Laura's experience with alcohol been prior to their escapade into the woods with the three Canadian guys and the bottle of gin?

9. What reason does Laura give for feeling sorry for Audrey Horne?

10. How is the theme of hope represented in the poem Laura writes on July 30, 1984, entitled "Someday Growing Up Will Come Easier"? (14)

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss how the theme of appearance versus reality is demonstrated within the novel and state the message the author is sending about this topic. Back up your argumentative points with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Write a persuasive essay that argues either for or against the use of The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer in high school classrooms. Support your argument using logical reasoning, poignant examples of modern teenage life, and concrete details from the novel's narrative.

Essay Topic 3

In what ways is Laura's character a walking paradox, particularly by the conclusion of the novel? What are these paradoxical qualities enlisted in order to express a particular message about the human condition and what is that message? Prove your claim with textual evidence from the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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