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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter Two, what does the author say is one more name for death?
(a) Cancer.
(b) Grief.
(c) Time.
(d) Religion.

2. At the end of Chapter Two, what does the author think about his reflections?
(a) That the author is close to understanding why his wife died.
(b) That God will answer all of the author's questions.
(c) They are senseless.
(d) That he is growing closer to God.

3. By the end of the second chapter, what does the author think about human contemplation of God?
(a) It is the highest human endeavor.
(b) God guides human thought along the right course.
(c) If humans think hard enough, they can understand God.
(d) Human beings should not try to accurately describe God.

4. What kind of character did the author's wife have?
(a) Depressive.
(b) Irresponsible.
(c) No-nonsense.
(d) Sullen.

5. How does God seem to respond to the author's agony?
(a) With a feeling that Lewis' wife continued to live.
(b) With silence.
(c) With a sense of nearness to Lewis.
(d) With the gift of comfort.

6. Who reacts in shame when the author talks about his wife?
(a) The author's brother.
(b) The author's colleagues.
(c) The author's minister.
(d) Their sons.

7. The day after the author's rant in Chapter Two, what does he ask himself about God?
(a) If it's rational to believe in a bad God.
(b) Whether or not God exists.
(c) If God can return H. to life.
(d) If he has found acceptance that H. is gone.

8. To what does the author compare falling in love with H.'s memory?
(a) Incest.
(b) The next best thing to having H. with him.
(c) Adultery.
(d) Insanity.

9. What pseudonym did the author use?
(a) N. W. Clerk.
(b) Joy Gresham.
(c) C. S. Lewis.
(d) J. R. R. Tolkien.

10. For whom has the author had no difficulty praying?
(a) His wife.
(b) Those who have died other than his wife.
(c) Strangers.
(d) His children.

11. In the early stage of the author's grief, what was one emotion he felt toward God?
(a) Acceptance.
(b) Bliss.
(c) Companionship.
(d) Anger.

12. What is H.'s real name?
(a) Norma Lewis.
(b) Sylvia Plath.
(c) Helen Lewis.
(d) Joy Gresham.

13. For the author, what are human characterizations of God?
(a) Accurate descriptions.
(b) Grandiose characterizations.
(c) Delusions.
(d) Anthropomorphism.

14. How does Lewis think his friends react to talking about H.?
(a) Without sympathy.
(b) With eagerness.
(c) With sorrow.
(d) With embarrassment.

15. Whose suffering troubles the author the most?
(a) His parents'.
(b) H.'s
(c) His own.
(d) His children's.

Short Answer Questions

1. What sense does the first chapter end with?

2. What aspect of an afterlife does the author say differs completely from this life?

3. What is A Grief Observed a series of?

4. In the second chapter, what person does the author come to realize he had little confidence in?

5. What kind of understanding did the author have of H.'s dying?

(see the answer keys)

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