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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 Grace’s mother say when she sees three crows on the ship they are taking to Canada?

2. What would Mary do sometimes when the sheets were hung in the inside drying room?

3. Why does the peddler give Grace one button more than she buys?

4. Where does Grace work at the prison?

5. Why does Grace think it is bad when a doctor is around?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who brings Jordan his breakfast in the boarding house and what does Jordan think of the breakfast?

2. What is happening with Grace in the first page of Chapter 1?

3. What first happens when a doctor comes into the parlor at the governor’s house and why does it happen?

4. What does Grace tell Dr. Jordan about working at Mrs. Parkinson’s with Mary?

5. What does Mrs. Humphreys do at the opening of Chapter 6 and what is Dr. Jordan’s response?

6. How does Jordan describe Grace in his letter at the end of the Chapter?

7. Where is Grace taken after her encounter with the doctor and what does she describe there?

8. What does the visitor to Grace’s cell give her and what does Grace do about it?

9. What happens to Grace’s mother and how does her father take care of them?

10. Why is Reverend Verringer meeting with Jordan and what does Jordan believe of the Reverend?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Characters are an important part of what makes Alias Grace interesting. Discuss the following:

Thoroughly discuss and analyze Grace Marks. What are her strengths and weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she usually likable? Seldom likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas. Use the same criteria to thoroughly discuss and analyze Dr. Jordan.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

Trace and analyze the theme of sexuality in Alias Grace. Consider the following questions as you write: Examine which characters are most concerned with sexuality and about what their concern is centered. How does sexuality play such a major role in Alias Grace? How is sexuality at least partly to blame for Grace ending up in prison?

Trace and analyze the theme of feminism in Alias Grace. What does the novel have to say about the roles of women in the 1800’s? Is the view of women’s treatment and power in that era positive or negative? Why? What does feminism have to do with Grace’s life?

Essay Topic 3

Grace seems to make several bad decisions in her life which lead to her ending up in prison.

Discuss, in depth, two decisions Grace makes which you think might have changed the course of her life if she had made a different choice. Use examples from Alias Grace to support your response.

(see the answer keys)

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