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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. For the author, what element does praise always contain?

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

3. What does the author ask if he is doing with his fallen house of cards?

4. What does the author consider might be "only one more house of cards"?

5. What does the author think might be true about his unconscious?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

6. At nearly the end of the book, what kind of answer does Lewis receive from God? Briefly, explain what the answer means.

7. What does Lewis want when it comes to reality vs. ideas about reality?

8. 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.?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cancer plays a large role in Lewis's pain. He gives the disease its due in his reflections and, as is true of his later reflections, Lewis is interested in the disease itself as compared to the disease's demands. Discuss Lewis's thoughts on cancer, as he reflects on the disease throughout the book. Consider questions such as: How does Lewis describe the difference between the reality that is cancer and the ways in which one must meet cancer's increasing demands? How does Lewis describe what people actually encounter about cancer? What does cancer "look like" in day-to-day, minute-by-minute terms?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the different ways that Lewis considers God. Specify each of Lewis's characterizations of God and what each means to Lewis. With which, if any, of Lewis's characterizations about God does Lewis end the book?

Essay Topic 3

After a long period of feeling left outside a locked door, of feeling that God was unresponsive, Lewis begins to sense God's presence on the other side of the door and that the door is unlocked.

1) Discuss the idea behind the biblical promise cited by Lewis, "Knock and the door shall be opened." What does that mean for Lewis and his interaction with God? What does Lewis ask that the phrase might mean?

2) Discuss the other quote to which Lewis refers in Chapter Three, "To him that hath shall be given." What does that phrase mean to Lewis?

3) What, if any, value do either or both of these quotes have for those who grieve?

(see the answer keys)

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