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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 Senhora have strong opinions about?

2. What did Rebekka repeat over and over that she hated about her life before coming to Virginia?

3. Why does Florens think of the time Rebekka was threatened by an animal?

4. Where does Florens live at the beginning of the book?

5. How does Florens calm her fears while heading to get the blacksmith?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did D'Ortega come to be the way he is in the book?

2. What is strange about Lina's closest friendship?

3. How does Lina try to honor her culture in her situation?

4. What happens to Florens at Widow Ealing's house?

5. Why doesn't Florens' mother go with her to the new farm?

6. How were Rebekka's ideas of religion changed when she came to Virginia?

7. What does Lina teach Florens about men, and why?

8. How does Florens feel about the task she is given after Jacob's death?

9. How does Jacob change, and what causes these changes?

10. What slightly offends Lina while Rebekka is in her fever?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Diversity and discrimination are two major and related themes in this book. Where do these themes appear, and how do they work together to propel the plot of the book?

Essay Topic 2

Toni Morrison presents the idea that there are two sides to every man. Choose three of the characters from the book and write about their dual natures and how this duality affected the characters around them.

Essay Topic 3

There are many secrets made, kept, and divulged in this book. What are some of these secrets, and how does their placement in the plot affect the course of the plot and the characters involved in the secrets?

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