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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. What does the author conclude it is foolish to expect from the dead?

2. What physical condition does the author think his feelings resemble?

3. What is A Grief Observed a series of?

4. How does the author know that the end of this life is all about heavenly reunions?

5. In what way does the author crave to be touched by H.?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Does Lewis believe in the idea of families reuniting on the other side? Upon what does Lewis base his conclusion?

3. 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.?

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

5. What aspects of religion is Lewis glad to discuss? What aspect of religion is Lewis not willing to accept?

6. Describe some people whom Lewis thinks are having negative reactions to Lewis and his grief?

7. Does Lewis have trouble believing that God exists? Explain.

8. How does Lewis try to convince himself that he does not mind H.'s death? Provide examples of the things that Lewis tells himself.

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

10. What was so striking and disturbing about Lewis's encounter with the man he had not seen for 10 years? What image comes to Lewis's mind about memories of H.?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter Four, Lewis describes two enormous gains that relate to God and to H. Describe those gains. Why does Lewis not call them "lasting" gains? For all that he gained, what does Lewis chide himself for as far as his earlier desires were concerned? How does recognition of these gains come to Lewis? Use Lewis's poetic description of how they do, and do not, come into view.

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter Three, Lewis begins focused reflections on God and God's nature. Watching H. suffer, knowing what she had lost, and what Lewis lost, Lewis comes to the question of God. As a man who believed in God, this is the foundational issue of the book. In what direction will Lewis move as he learns to cope with the loss of his wife? What does that mean for Lewis's faith in God? How does Lewis reason through his earlier rantings at God? In what specific ways does Lewis describe God as He may or may not be? Do you think that Lewis is stronger when he is immersed in his emotions or in his reasoning? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Images play important roles and relate to central ideas in Lewis's reflections. What is important about images for Lewis? In the last chapter, Lewis writes about images and reality. How does Lewis regard images? What is Lewis's example of a reality that has powerful images (icons) associated with it? What does Lewis determine is the nature of reality as it relates to images? What does all that mean for the one who grieves and wants his beloved back?

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