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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 practical problem did H.'s death solve?
(a) It bridged the author's distance from God.
(b) The author learned how to cope with grief.
(c) The author cannot put her ahead of God.
(d) The author learned how to confront his own mortality.

2. Who is the source of the author's problem?
(a) H.
(b) God.
(c) The author himself.
(d) Nobody.

3. What experience helps the author make a decision about God's nature?
(a) When God withholds His comfort.
(b) H.'s suffering.
(c) When the author stops grieving.
(d) The author's suffering.

4. At the beginning of Chapter Four, what impossible result does the author admit he thought his records could achieve?
(a) End the author's grief.
(b) Bring happiness to his children.
(c) Make a map of sorrow.
(d) Bring H. back.

5. In Chapter Three, to what does the author compare faith?
(a) A dream state.
(b) A mysterious friendship.
(c) A game of chess.
(d) A game of bridge.

Short Answer Questions

1. For whose sake was the author's plea, "Come back"?

2. When was another time when the author enjoyed rambling walks?

3. Why does the author ask God to treat H. tenderly?

4. What kind of "no answer" does the author get from God by the fourth chapter?

5. What motivated the author's attempt to hit back at God?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Lewis mean when he writes that all reality is iconoclastic? How does this statement relate to Lewis's thoughts about his love for H.?

2. In Chapter Three, what does Lewis come to see about his love for H. and his faith in God?

3. How does the consolation that previously so wearied Lewis, "She is in God's hands", strike Lewis by the last chapter?

4. What are Lewis's reflections about images in the fourth chapter?

5. Why does Lewis think that H.'s physical anguish might not have ended when she died? What images does Lewis use when reflecting on what happens to H. after she died?

6. What is the difference between how Lewis earlier understood biblical consolations and how he came to understand them?

7. What does Lewis write that his notes ultimately have been about?

8. What feelings follow from Lewis's experiences when he is not thinking about H.? How is his feeling related to his grief?

9. At the beginning of Chapter Four, why does Lewis decide that he will not fill more than four journals?

10. For Lewis, why is a good God as formidable as God, the Cosmic Sadist? Describe the differences between the two ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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