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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 wakes Ruby the night of the fire?

2. What game does Ruby play by herself the evening before the fire?

3. Where does Ruby find her mother during the reception?

4. Which of these is not part of the picnic lunches packed for them at the farmhouse?

5. Which color does Ruby say is "the color of memory"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the reaction Patricia and Ruby have to seeing Gillian's headstone?

2. What does the Lennox-Roper group do at the Bottomless Loch?

3. What happens on Mothering Sunday?

4. Describe Patricia as she is in 1964.

5. How does Ruby discover she had a twin sister?

6. Why does Bunty abandon the ironing so suddenly the night of the fire?

7. What happens to Rags during Chapter Nine?

8. Why does Tom usually visit his sisters without his wife?

9. How does Pearl die?

10. Why does Tom laugh when his hand is blown off?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the concept of family, and its importance, portrayed in "Behind the Scenes at the Museum"? Please be specific.

Essay Topic 2

In this novel, there are a lot of seeming coincidences. Choose three of these and discuss their importance to the story and why Atkinson chose to include them.

Essay Topic 3

One of the themes in "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" is the loss of children. Using at least three examples, discuss how Atkinson develops this theme throughout the story and its impact on the characters involved.

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