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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. Who insists Jamison has to stay on lithium?

2. What country is David Laurie from?

3. What does Jamison refuse to do regularly?

4. What subject does Jamison's brother have a PHD in?

5. In which city does David die?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jamison's brother save her life in chapter 5?

2. What reason does Jamison give for connecting manic depressives with creativity?

3. What kind of work does Jamison decide to go into after graduate school?

4. What does Jamison discover in chapter 6 when a bright young lawyer kills himself?

5. In what way did Jamison's time at college turn out to be a positive experience?

6. How does Jamison describe her early childhood years?

7. Describe the manic extreme of Jamison's mood disorder.

8. What indications are there that there is history of manic depression in Jamison's family?

9. What happens to the plane that flies over the school yard in the first chapter?

10. What does Jamison find attractive about David Laurie?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss differences between the novel and autobiography formats. What are the main elements of a novel? What are the main elements of an autobiography? What can novelists express that an autobiographer cannot? How can autobiographies keep to the facts while still maintaining a level of entertainment?

Essay Topic 2

What events in Jamison's early life influenced her decision to study psychology? How different do the students think Jamison's life would been if she was from a less supportive family?

Essay Topic 3

Look at the structure of the book.

1) Discuss elements of the narrative structure; Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's ideas?

2) Examine the way Jamison uses other people in the story to express her ideas.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 674 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample