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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 does the author claim he is at his worst?

2. What will happen every time the author builds a new house of cards?

3. What can the author's grief and memories never achieve?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. At the beginning of Chapter Three, when does Lewis acknowledge that he does not think about H.? What is life like when Lewis is not thinking about H.?

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

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

4. What choices does Lewis think that people have when it comes to their ideas about God?

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

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

7. What hopeful similes does Lewis use to describe a moment he experiences one night?

8. What is an imperfect religious image with which Lewis is familiar? What is Lewis's reflection on this image?

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

10. What does Lewis mean when he writes that he can believe that God is a vet? Conversely, how is it difficult for Lewis to think of God as a vet?

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

Lewis reflects that people other than his children are having trouble coping with Lewis's grief. He describes various instances and impressions that leave him with distinct opinions about those who grieve.

1) Whom does Lewis encounter that he believes have uncomfortable responses to his obvious agony? Provide general as well as specific examples.

2) How do the people about whom Lewis writes respond to him? Be specific, detailing who and how they respond.

3) What does Lewis conclude about people who are grieving and their place in society?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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