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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 2, what is one thing that Lessing says the writer must have in order to begin to write about his/her life?
(a) Free time.
(b) Tedious, rhetorical questions.
(c) Copious emotional space.
(d) Perspective.

2. Why did Lessing's father miss the Battle of the Somme?
(a) A bad appendix.
(b) An amputated leg.
(c) A dishonorable discharge.
(d) A case of depression.

3. What type of animals frequently made their way into the Tayler house?
(a) Snakes.
(b) Cats.
(c) Lizards.
(d) Beetles.

4. Which company offered loans to the farmers in Lessing's region?
(a) Southern Rhodesian Farming Association.
(b) The British National Bank.
(c) The National Bank of Southern Rhodesia.
(d) Land Bank.

5. What does Lessing say about memory?
(a) Memory is a careless and lazy organ.
(b) Memory must be recorded in books.
(c) Memory cannot be trusted.
(d) Memory is an astonishing record.

Short Answer Questions

1. During the 1930's what did Lessing and her brother hear all of the adults discussing?

2. How did Lessing's friend make a living in New York to support herself and her daughter?

3. According to Lessing, why do authors write so many biographies?

4. What did Lessing's parents think of the Whiteheads when they first met them?

5. In Chapter 4, what city did Lessing's mother insist on traveling through on the way back to England?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Lessing's parents plan to acquire land in Southern Rhodesia?

2. Describe Lessing's father's medical condition in this chapter.

3. What sensation predominated Lessing's childhood?

4. After tracing the history of her parents' lives, what does Lessing ponder?

5. According to Lessing's memory, how did she learn to interact with people around her?

6. Quoting a recent historian, to what major event does Lessing attribute current feelings of mistrust toward the government?

7. While their mother was bedridden, what did Lessing and her brother do?

8. In Chapter 6, what was Lessing's mother's primary concern about the children?

9. Describe the English views of themselves and their relation to other people as Lessing portrays it in this chapter.

10. In Chapter 3, what type of child abuse does Lessing describe?

(see the answer keys)

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