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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. How does the author say that people react to someone in a room with them?

2. When was another time when the author enjoyed rambling walks?

3. What is all reality, according to the author?

4. What does the author think might have influenced his faith in God?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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. 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.?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lewis must deal with his children as they all struggle through their loss. As Lewis tries to open up to his sons, he is confronted with their great disturbance.

1) How does Lewis attempt to communicate with his children? What topics of conversation does he introduce?

2) How do the children respond to Lewis's advances to build a bridge that connects them? Specify how Lewis interprets the children's responses. Give at least three examples of Lewis's impressions.

3) With what experience does Lewis relate his sons' emotions about their mother's death?

Essay Topic 2

Select three reflections that either resonated with your beliefs or that you had trouble comprehending or believing. Reflect on each one. Be precise when you refer to the selected reflections. Explain what captured your attention about each reflection. Discuss how each reflection might affect you. Also describe how or how not, the book as a whole might have meaning in your life.

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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