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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 narrator sign the letter she writes to her housekeeper?

2. What does the narrator see the police do?

3. Where is Bheki's friend kept?

4. What do the narrator and her housekeeper do after talking with Mr. Vercueil in the kitchen?

5. Where does the narrator find Mr. Vercueil when she wakes?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator do when her car won't start according to Part One, pg. 15-33?

2. What is the aged woman diagnosed with at the start of Part One, pg. 3-15?

3. Who returns with her two young daughters and teenage son in Part Two, pgs. 35-56?

4. What does the homeless man do when the narrator brings him coffee?

5. What happened to the narrator three years ago?

6. What does the narrator ask the homeless man to do upon her death?

7. Who does the narrator see parked outside of her house?

8. What does the narrator say about the boy and her teaching?

9. Why does the narrator say she cannot give him money for nothing?

10. What does Vercueil explain to the narrator when they reach the boy's hospital room?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze Coetzee's development of the plot in the "Age of Iron", from the initial situation to the climax and conclusion.

Essay Topic 2

Examine how rules and order are depicted in the book, and conclude why Mrs. Curren believes that the rules are necessary to maintain peace.

Essay Topic 3

Define epistolary novel and discuss how "Age of Iron" is an example.

(see the answer keys)

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