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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. To what is the cafe out front of her hostel devoted?

2. What does Keith ask Ginny via IM?

3. What does Ginny buy at a grocery store?

4. What does Ginny watch behind the field of windmills?

5. How did Peg die?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ginny find a key?

2. What does Peg tell Ginny about the last envelope and what does Ginny say when Carrie asks her when she is going to open it?

3. What does Ginny see with Knud and what happens there?

4. Where does Ginny go after Copenhagen and how does she end up with friends going with her?

5. What does Ginny find at the second hostel she stops at and how does she end up spending the night there? What does she do once she has a place?

6. What does the group do when the leave the beach in Greece and what does Ginny do when she finds out she has no money?

7. Who does Ginny meet at the hostel in Copenhagen, what do they nickname her and why?

8. Where is Ginny suppose to go after Rome, where is she suppose to stay and why?

9. Why does Ginny have to look for a hostel in Amsterdam and how does she feel about the first one she finds?

10. How does Ginny find the cafe and what does she do there?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the following:

1. Who is/are the protagonists of the story and why?

2. Who is/are the antagonists of the story and why?

3. Which 3 secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot?

4. Are any of the characters dispensable and which ones? Why or why not?

5. Do you think this is a character-driven plot or an action-driven plot? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Over the course of "13 Little Blue Envelopes", Ginny grows as a person in both complexity and understanding. "13 Little Blue Envelopes" might be considered a slice of Ginny's larger story of her "coming of age." It might be said that this story is a "bildungsroman" of Ginny Blackstone. Discuss the following:

1. Define Bildungsroman, or "Coming of Age," and give several examples from literature you have read.

2. Trace and analyze the character of Ginny as she changes from a shy teen to a more confident young woman. What are the significant events that change Ginny?

3. After thoroughly analyzing Ginny's growth throughout "13 Little Blue Envelopes", do you think "13 Little Blue Envelopes" could be considered Ginny's Coming of Age story? Why or why not?

4. Are there any other characters in "13 Little Blue Envelopes" who go through a Coming of Age experience? Who? Why do you think so?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of growth in "13 Little Blue Envelopes". Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with growth? Why? What are some symbols of growth? Symbols of rigidity? What characters seem rigid?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of courage in the story. Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to possess courage? Why?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of death in "13 Little Blue Envelopes". Consider the death of Mike as an random act of nature and the death of Luis as the result of conscious violence. Consider also in your answer the death of innocence in Rick from the beginning of the book to the end.

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