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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 color is the settee in Lydia's living room?

2. How much older is Mireille than Silas?

3. Who told Lydia about Silas's affair with an MK officer?

4. As a child, what did Mikey want to be when he grew up?

5. What is the abbreviation for the underground movement Silas and Kate were a part of?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Silas think about as he is driving home from the hospital after refusing medical care?

2. Why does Mikey travel to Shirley Graham's home and what is her reaction to hosting him?

3. What happened at a dinner party, which outraged Lydia so much that she never wanted Kate near Mikey again?

4. What is Mikey's reaction to reading that he is the product of a rape in his mother's diary?

5. Why does Lydia have to stay as long as she does in the hospital, and how does she pass her days there?

6. Why does Silas phone Alec, and what is he suddenly suspicious of him?

7. How did Lydia find out about Silas's affair?

8. How does Silas react to seeing Lydia's injuries after she steps on the broken glass?

9. As an adult looking back, how does Mikey describe his relationship with his mother as a child?

10. How does Kate react to Mikey while she is staying with him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the biggest acts of betrayal in this novel is the way that Alec betrays his friendship with Silas and keeps a dark secret from him for almost twenty years. Explain what secret Alec is keeping from Silas, and what lengths he goes to in order to ensure that the secret would never come out. Then, explain why Alec finally decides to tell Silas, and how this admittance affected their relationship.

Essay Topic 2

The use of religion is carefully plotted out by Dangor as Mikey makes his transition from boyhood to manhood in the novel. There are two main religious icons used as symbols in the text: the Kaaba stone and the Imam. Briefly describe both the Kaaba stone and Imam, and explain how each of these religious symbols affected Mikey in his coming-of-age.

Essay Topic 3

Mikey is arguably the character that undergoes the greatest transformation in this novel. Describe Mikey's character at the beginning of the novel and compare/contrast that to his character at the end of the novel. What are the most important transformations Mikey undergoes both physically and emotionally in the text?

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