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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. Why do the parents say they can not leave the great house in Chapter 4?

2. Where does Evie say they once lived early in Chapter 1?

3. What does Evie view the parents as in Chapter 1?

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

5. What had been added to the treehouses by previous visitors to the house?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What impresses, grudgingly, Evie about Alycia in Part I?

3. What do the parents spend most of their time doing in Part I?

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

5. Why do Evie and some of the other teenagers go swimming in the storm water at the parents' request?

6. Why do the parents refuse to leave when the teenagers ask them to, in the aftermath of the storm?

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

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

9. What does James ask Evie's group of teenagers about that confuses them, and Evie is the only one to admit this?

10. How does the parents' behavior grow worse in the aftermath of the storm?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Evie strikes a hopeful tone for Jack at the very end of the novel, but Jack is very sick, the parents have completely abandoned the teenagers, and Evie has few options to try to find care for Jack. Write an essay exploring how Millet treats the theme of hope in the face of disaster and multiple fronts of hardship and struggle, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

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