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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 has Eve always thought to be Gemma's real name?

2. At what point in her story does Gemma shudder in Chapter 3?

3. What do Becca's nieces and nephew ask for in Chapter 4?

4. During Gemma's wake, what is done to the mirrors in the house?

5. How many granddaughters does Gemma have?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where are Becca's work offices housed? What were Becca's first 'real' articles at the Advocate about?

2. What does Sylvia press Gemma for a definition for in Chapter 9?

3. What does Becca do in Chapter 2, which he sisters urge her not to?

4. Besides the document with an unknown name on it, what is inside the carved box which had belonged to Gemma?

5. What name does Becca have for her car in Chapter 2? Why has she named her car?

6. After Sylvia and Shana have left in Chapter 2, what does Gemma tell Becca, and make Becca promise to do?

7. While going through Gemma's box of mementos in Chapter 6, what does Becca realize about them?

8. What do the Berlins debate about Gemma's real name in Chapter 4?

9. In Chapter 5, what frightens Becca's friend?

10. What is different about Gemma's version of Briar Rose's story from the traditional version?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss conflict in "Briar Rose". Who is in conflict with whom? What events or situations cause these conflicts? Are the major conflicts resolved? If so, how?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author of the novel "Briar Rose", Jane Yolen. What others works has she written? What similarities or connections can be found between this novel and Yolen's other work? How is she regarded in the literary world?

Essay Topic 3

Gemma's Sleeping Beauty story is an allegory of Gemma's experiences in an extermination camp during WWII. What was the Holocaust? Describe the camp Gemma was sent to. How did this experience impact her life?

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