View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does James ask the teenagers that they are confused about in Chapter 2?

2. What do the parents do when they realize the teenagers are leaving the great house all together?

3. What does Eve hear about the lake after the storm that upsets her and makes her afraid of the water?

4. What does Evie's mother do when she waves at her mother in Chapter 3?

5. How does Evie refer to the house the parents have rented for the summer?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the teenagers and parents know Alycia has survived the storm on the yacht?

2. What is the "magic hour" and how do the teenagers use it?

3. Why does Evie not participate in driving the tick-ridden deer from the yard?

4. Why is Evie so alarmed to see what Kay does to Amy in Chapter 3?

5. Why is David feeling so guilty about sabotaging the yacht in Chapter 3?

6. What was a liability in the parent game?

7. Why are the parents in panic mode in Chapter 3?

8. What does Burl think is particularly dangerous that they all see around the great house in the days after the storm?

9. Who do the teenagers meet when they take off for the island for a few days?

10. Why do the teenagers run away with Burl?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What happens to Sukey's mother about halfway through the novel, and why does it seem to serve as a type of turning point in the action of the novel and in the lives of the assembled teenagers? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

What do you think Millet is trying to communicate to the reader about both individual and personal responsibility through the actions of both the parents and the teenagers? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

What does Alycia's deal with her father - that he will not tell her mother about Alycia's dalliances with an older man if she will not tell her mother about the father's infidelity - tell the reader about the moral nature of these characters? Which other parents and children seem to make choices that are morally questionable? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 779 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample