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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 is the name of the housekeeper's son?

2. Who tries to intervene when Mr. Vercueil is being beaten?

3. When does the narrator return to her house after her trip in town?

4. What is Mr. Vercueil doing in the back yard that the housekeeper's daughters watch?

5. Who are the only two people the narrator say she would speak to on the phone?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What happens after the police van continued driving?

3. What does the narrator explain when a neighbor who calls on the phone?

4. What does the narrator tell the homeless man stories about on the trip into town?

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

6. What does the narrator say to the homeless man about her family?

7. What does the narrator warn Florence of regarding hate?

8. What did Bheki and another teenage boy do?

9. What does the narrator reassure Florence of?

10. What is the narrator told about her plan to make a complaint?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss why Vercueil acted as a guide or mentor to Mrs. Curren and how he influenced her.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the symbolism of cancer in "Age of Iron" and why Coetzee chose to use a terminal disease to show the relationship with apartheid, believed a disease of hatred.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the principles which the youth live by in the "Age of Iron" and compare it with Mrs. Curren's principles.

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This section contains 569 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample