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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. Why does Christine need an ambulance?

2. Who does not go see a film with Ruby in the summer of 1963?

3. How does Pearl die?

4. What does Sandra's mother call Ted's family?

5. What job do Ruby and Kathleen have during the summer after high school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens at the Chinese restaurant?

2. What does Bunty come into the shop with at the beginning of Chapter Ten?

3. What happens to Rags during Chapter Nine?

4. What happens on Shrove Tuesday?

5. How do Kathleen and Ruby spend the summer after finishing high school?

6. Describe Patricia's "new" life.

7. What prompts Ruby's decision to leave Gian-Carlo?

8. How did Alice and Jean-Paul Armand get stuck in France longer than originally planned?

9. What does Ruby do for a living?

10. What happens on Mothering Sunday?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Atkinson use time to create her plot: is it strictly linear? How is it manipulated to her advantage? How does this use of time shape characters?

Essay Topic 2

Several times throughout the novel, Ruby says, "I am a precious jewel. I am a drop of blood. I am Ruby Lennox." What is the significance of these sentences, and why are they repeated throughout the book?

Essay Topic 3

How does the title of the novel, "Behind the Scenes at the Museum," represent the text as a whole?

(see the answer keys)

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