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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. What does the author say combats the idea of God's mindless cruelty?
(a) Christ.
(b) Scripture.
(c) Memories of lost loved ones.
(d) The promise of heaven.

2. In what sense does the author feel isolated from his wife?
(a) He cannot enter into her experience of dying.
(b) He cannot express his fears to her.
(c) She cannot come home from the hospital.
(d) He thinks she will not miss him.

3. Who is the main character in the book?
(a) The two sons.
(b) H.
(c) God.
(d) C. S. Lewis.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Of what disease did H. die?

2. How does Lewis think his friends react to talking about H.?

3. What does the author think happens to our memories of people?

4. Whom does Lewis' sons remind him of?

5. In what sense does the author agree that H. is with God, as some friends say?

Short Essay Questions

1. H.'s absence is most evident to Lewis in his body. How does Lewis experience his own body in his grief?

2. What does Lewis find so horrifying about the man he encountered who was tending to his mother's grave? What does Lewis's reaction to the man mean for Lewis's feelings about H.?

3. What does Lewis mean by the term "live" as it relates to H.'s memory?

4. Why does Lewis think that grief is like fear? Describe the ways in which Lewis experiences fear.

5. Lewis decided to record his reflections to get all his feelings and thoughts out. What does Lewis reflect might be a downside to his journal?

6. What does Lewis experience when he finally goes to a place where he and H. had been happy?

7. Lewis turns to C. with questions about God. How does C. respond to Lewis's thoughts?

8. What does Lewis describe as so tragic about H.'s "noble hunger"?

9. What was the most precious gift that marriage to H. had given Lewis? What is Lewis afraid will happen to that gift?

10. What do consoling people tell Lewis about where H. is after her death? How does Lewis interpret these attempts to console him?

(see the answer keys)

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