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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. Against what were the author's records written?
(a) Loss of the author's career.
(b) Insanity.
(c) Losing memory of H.
(d) Total collapse.

2. What does the author think that H. would have thought must happen to weak faith?
(a) That such faith must be knocked down.
(b) That weak faith has to grow stronger.
(c) That such faith must be held closely.
(d) Religion must build up such faith.

3. According to the author, what kind of faith cannot survive a serious challenge such as death?
(a) The only kind of faith that is possible.
(b) The faith of the saints.
(c) An impossible faith.
(d) A house of cards.

4. What does the author think it means if human suffering is unnecessary?
(a) That Satan causes suffering.
(b) That human suffering is an illusion.
(c) Either there is no God or He is bad.
(d) That humans bring on their own suffering.

5. To what length would the author have gone if it could have cured H.'s cancer?
(a) Turned his back on God.
(b) Never seen her again.
(c) Died in her place.
(d) Become a priest.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the author think that Lazarus got a "raw deal"?

2. What important personal process does the author begin in the course of Chapter Three?

3. What experience helps the author make a decision about God's nature?

4. What one thing has sufficient force to rattle one's faith, according to the author in Chapter Three?

5. If sorrow does not require a map, what does it require?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Lewis reflect can withstand suffering better, the body or the mind? Briefly explain.

2. What signs are there that Lewis is beginning to come out of his depression?

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

4. What is the difference between how Lewis felt at the beginning of the book and how he feels at the end of his reflections?

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

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

7. In what way does Lewis's previous acceptance of death and mourning alter with H.'s death?

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

9. 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.?

10. What human conditions does Lewis admit that he can never fully examine?

(see the answer keys)

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