View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What color was the villa into which the Darrell family moved on Corfu?

2. What was one of the unusual things Gerald knew about the water-spider?

3. What did Leslie send the judge upon Spiro's suggestion?

4. On one of his solo adventures, where did Gerald find a water-spider he brought home to study?

5. From whom did Mother get the donkey she gave to Gerald?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kinds of spiders did Gerald find on the island? What did he witness one day while observing one of the spiders he had caught?

2. What creature did Gerald discover on an afternoon trek to the lake alone? Why was this creature especially important to Gerald? What was unique about this creature?

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

4. Where did Gerald go to thank Katarina for giving him Sally? What was happening when Gerald arrived at Katarina's? What did Gerald do?

5. 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'?

6. Who was Sally? Where did Sally come from? How did the name Sally come to be? Why was Gerald excited to have Sally as a member of the household?

7. What did Larry offer to teach Gerald about caring for Sally? What important piece of information did Larry not know that caused him trouble? What happened?

8. What did Gerald do upon catching a seahorse while fishing with Kokino? Where did he find them? How many seahorses did he find in all, and what did he do with them?

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. Where did Taki take Gerald to catch fish? What unusual method did Taki use to catch fish? What strange fish did Taki catch that fascinated Gerald? What did Gerald learn about the fish Taki caught?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the "olive merry go round?" How does it work, and what does it do? How does Gerald discover it and its owner?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Discuss the importance of the chapter "Interlude for Spirits" to the memoir. Why did the author choose this title for the chapter? How does this chapter fit in with the rest of the memoir? Which characters are in the spotlight in this chapter and why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,291 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample