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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 Van act toward Ada in Chapter 32?

2. Which of the following authors do Van and Ada like?

3. After Van returns from washing his hands, where does he find Ada?

4. How do Ada and Van keep their correspondence secret?

5. What feature of Van's and Ada's is extremely similar?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens in Van's stage act?

2. What does Ada have to do before she can go off and meet Van in private in Chapter 20?

3. What causes Lucette to follow Ada and Van around in Chapter 34?

4. What bad habit does Ana stop on her twelfth birthday?

5. How does Van circumvent the rules about what Ada is supposed to read from the library?

6. How does Van feel about Marina?

7. What does Ada say lions do when they eat a person?

8. What is the first trick Ada and Van use to escape from Lucette?

9. Describe the encounter between Blanche and Van.

10. What does Van do, when Ada suggests he spank Lucette?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The central story of the novel is focused on the incestuous relationship between Ada and Van. Discuss incest in the novel.

1) What are Van and Ada's attitudes toward incest? The implication is that even as children, they know they are brother and sister. Do they hide this knowledge from themselves? Do they accept it?

2) Why do Ada and Van change their mind about living together when Demon finds out? Are their self-perceptions changed by Demon's admission of their relationship as siblings? Are their actions driven by Demon's open knowledge of the secret? What are the societal attitudes involved?

3) Why does Van tell Lucette he doesn't want another incestuous relationship with her? What is different about a relationship with Lucette, as opposed to any other unrelated woman?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss siblings, cousins, and their relationships in the novel.

1) What are the relationships between Marina and Aqua? How are they similar to each other? How does Aqua serve as a substitute for Marina? How does this compare to the relationship between Demon and Dan?

2) Discuss the relationship between Lucette and Ada? How are they similar and different, and what does their relationship as sisters have to do with their similarities? How does Lucette serve as a substitute for Ada?

3) Discuss the relationship between Ada and Van as brother and sister. How does their relationship as siblings change their associations? What similarities does it create between them?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss madness in the novel.

1) What is Aqua's madness in the novel? Why does she go from sanitarium to sanitarium, and why does she kill herself?

2) What types of madness do Van's patients display? Why do mad patients see visions of Terra in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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