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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 does Bernard look like?

2. To whom does Jeremy dedicate his memoir?

3. What completely overshadowed Jeremy and Jenny's life until their first child was born?

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

5. Why did Jeremy persist in his friendship with his in-laws?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Jeremy in such discomfort at a point in Part One when June is speaking to him of God and religion?

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

3. 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?

4. How does June feel that Bernard is so different from her?

5. In June's version of how she and Bernard first met, she actively pursues him, making sure that Bernard sees her when he is near his office. She even tries to make small talk with him. Why does June pursue Bernard when he does not even seem to notice her?

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

7. What was it about his friends' parents that interested Jeremy?

8. 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?

9. How does Jeremy feel about his friends' parents?

10. When did Jeremy, in the Prologue, feel that he really began to exist or to live?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When a tough girl in leather saves Bernard from nearly being killed by a gang of boys in Berlin, who did that girl represent? Why? Does Bernard believe in this symbol?

Essay Topic 2

June's black dogs and Bernard's caterpillars are symbolic of their separate ways of viewing the world. How is that so?

Essay Topic 3

The black dogs that June encountered were more than dogs to her. They were a symbol of great importance. What did they symbolize to her? In what way does her belief bear some truth?

(see the answer keys)

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