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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 important thing did Larry not know about donkeys that caused him great pain?

2. According to the story, what happened to the woman who would not sell her milk for seventeen coins?

3. What did Theodore and Gerald hear as they ate lunch in the olive grove?

4. What did Larry tell Gerald to do if he wanted to go faster while riding on his donkey?

5. How did the water-spider manage to live underwater?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the family do on Sven's last day at their villa? Who came to visit that day? What did Sven do upon meeting this guest? How does Mother describe Sven as gets into the cab to leave? Why did Larry think her comment was ironic?

2. What was the "hypocritical prayer?" What did Gerald observe about this creature?

3. Who did Margo and Gerald discover lived on Mouse Island? How did they first discover this person? How did they eventually appease this inhabitant's ire?

4. Who is Taki Thanatos? How did Gerald meet him? What did the two share in common? Where did Taki want to take Gerald?

5. Who was Sven? How did he come upon the Durrell family? What was Sven's unusual talent that drove the family crazy? What did Gerald learn Sven had in common with him?

6. Who did Mother hire to be Gerald's tutor? How did the two initially get along? What did his tutor do that changed Gerald's perspective on learning?

7. Why did the narrator, Gerald, and his family go to Greece? Where in Greece did they settle? What details did the narrator give about their 'home away from home'?

8. What did mother have Costas construct in the yard? How did she explain the construction to Gerald? What was Gerald's mother really having built and why?

9. How did Leslie react to settling into their new home? What did he set about to do while in Corfu? How did his mother react to this plan?

10. What is a China-mark moth? What makes this moth unique?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Larry is the oldest child in the family, and Gerald's oldest brother. Write a character sketch for Larry. Include his role in the family, his various interests, and his most noticeable personality traits. Also draw your own conclusions about his behavior, his feelings about his family, and specifically his feelings for Gerald.

Essay Topic 2

Gerald gives detailed descriptions of two customs of the village in which he lives. One is the wedding ceremony, and another childbirth. Describe both of these customs, and how Gerald ends up witnessing them both in his first months on the island.

Essay Topic 3

Before Chapter Four, Durrell has placed a quote from Professor Anstead, "Hospitality is, indeed, now no less than in classical times, a sacred duty in these islands, and it is a duty more conscientiously performed." How does this quote apply to the Durrell family? What are some examples of the hospitality they have offered to guests? What kinds of hospitality have been offered to them?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,341 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample