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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. Why does Jeremy state that he was something of a parent at the age of seventeen?

2. What does June believe she discovered after the incident with the dogs?

3. What is happening in Jean and Harper's relationship?

4. What does Bernard look like?

5. Where was June living when Jeremy was visiting her and taking notes in Part One?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jeremy state that he naturally identifies with an abandoned child like Sally?

2. What thoughts are probably going through Jeremy's mind as he watches June plants flower bulbs?

3. In what way do Jeremy and June disagree on June's reference to her story of the black dogs in Part One of the story?

4. In what way did Sally react when she could hear her parents having one of their violent arguments?

5. When Bernard and June were not talking about their own personal world while dating, what were their conversations about?

6. When June tells Jeremy that she and Bernard were still obsessed with each other in a physical way, what is Jeremy's reaction?

7. Does Jeremy feel like a surrogate parent to Sally?

8. Although June and Bernard appear to be living separate lives in Part One, why does Bernard visit her and want news of her from Jeremy?

9. When Bernard's grandson, Alexander, asks his cousin, Harry, at June's burial when his grandma will be coming back, how does Harry's answer nearly sum up June's and Bernard's relationship problems?

10. Why did June and Bernard separate, according to the Preface?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When June kills the dogs, she is also killing something else in a symbolic fashion. What is she getting rid of, and why? What does she find that is new for her? In what way does her encounter change June, and how does it affect her relationship with Bernard?

Essay Topic 2

What does the last line in the book mean ("...as sleep rolls in they are receding from her, black stains in the gray of the dawn, fading as they move into the foothills of the mountains from where they will return to haunt us, somewhere in Europe, in another time")?

Essay Topic 3

What is it about June's story of the black dogs that might have someone believe it was her imagination? Point out phrases or words in the retelling of the scene to support your explanation.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 911 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample