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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. How did Gerald find the seahorses?

2. How did Mother describe Sven Olsen as he left her home?

3. What did Margo do daily to combat her acne?

4. Where were the myrtle bushes located?

5. What was Benitses?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Gerald's family react to the seahorses? What unusual thing did Theodore teach Gerald about seahorses?

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. What was "catching cuttlefish with love?" How did it work? What was Gerald's response to this interesting fishing style?

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. 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?

7. Who is the narrator of the story? What do we learn about him in the opening "Conversations?" Where is his home?

8. 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'?

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Gerald Durrell ended his memoir with the short paragraph "Lulled by the wine and the throbbing heart of the boat's engine, lulled by the warm night and the singing, I fell asleep while the boat carried us back across the warm, smooth waters to our island and the brilliant days that were not to be." Discuss this sentence, its relevance to the memoir as a whole, and the "days ahead" for the family.

Essay Topic 2

The final section of the book is entitled "Mail." What is in this chapter? Why is it important to the memoir? What do we know after reading the mail about the family and about Corfu?

Essay Topic 3

When Leslie is brought to trial by a neighbor accusing Roger of eating three turkeys, Spiro tells him how to handle the problem. What does Spiro help Leslie do, and how does his idea work out for Leslie? What comment is Durrell making about the legal affairs in their small village?

(see the answer keys)

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