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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. When will the author know if his restored faith is solid?

2. What metaphor does the author use to describe grief in the beginning of the fourth chapter?

3. What does the author think about people who are not offended by iconoclasm?

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

5. How long did "low-hung grey skies" hang over the author?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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?

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

5. Toward what does Lewis turn when he becomes overwhelmed by feelings?

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

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

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

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

10. In addition to a sword, what other metaphor does Lewis use to describe H. to establish a balanced view?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Before H. died, what were her nearly last words to Lewis? How do those words compare with words of consolation that Lewis hears after H.'s death? Who does Lewis believe and why? If H.'s words were true, what does it mean for her continuing in God's hands? Describe Lewis's feelings about a God in whose hands Lewis sadly finds his departed wife.

Essay Topic 2

Lewis describes an encounter with a man with a hoe and a watering can who was preparing to tend to the man's mother's grave. Lewis is "horrified" by the encounter, which displays Lewis's consistent desire to penetrate to the reality of the death of H. and the reality of God.

1) Discuss what it is about the man with the hoe that caused Lewis to be so troubled. Was it something the man said or did?

2) What does Lewis reflect is better; tending to a grave and letting that be one's sense of reality about the deceased, or to pass by symbols and seek to do without the person? Explain what Lewis is trying to work out.

Essay Topic 3

Lewis begins to ponder H. and the possibility of her continuing existence. In the beginning of his reflections, Lewis discovers that H. has become inaccessible in different ways. Needless to say, this causes him great disturbance. Discuss what sets off Lewis's thoughts about H. and where or if she "is." What does Lewis discover is different in her case than was true for all others whom he had known who had died? What related issue does Lewis's trouble regarding H. introduce? This topic is one that runs through the book and is more central than Lewis's difficulties about H. What does Lewis finally determine is the distinction between the others who had died and H.?

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