View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Wanda notice in chapter 15 is one common thread among many of the people responding to Margaret's ad for a new roommate?

2. Whose bedroom does Wanda now occupy in Margaret's house?

3. What is the point of view used in chapter 1 of part 1?

4. Who is Troy?

5. What did Margaret call her father?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was life like for Wanda when she lived with the Schultz family?

2. What brought Wanda to Seattle? Why?

3. Why does Wanda interview the clerk at a second hand record store? Who does she pretend to be?

4. For what reason does Margaret decide to invite another person to live in her house? What is this new roommate's profession?

5. What does Margaret begin seeing in chapter 8? What is this a symptom of?

6. What role does Stephen play in Margaret's life now that the two are divorced?

7. What is significant about the day Margaret's mother died? What happens to Margaret in the aftermath of her mother's death?

8. Why does the author introduce a dream that both Wanda and Margaret are having in chapter 7?

9. Why does Margaret go to the Hotel Orleans in chapter 10? Who does she meet there?

10. Who is the first respondent to Margaret's ad for a roommate? Why does Margaret like this first respondent?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the first mosaic Wanda makes with the shards from Margaret's china collection? What is the significance of this piece? What notoriety does she receive from her work? What idea does Troy have in regards to Wanda's art that will change the house in which Margaret lives? What mosaic does Barbara Cohen hire Wanda to make? Who appears in the piece? Whose kitchen does the piece resemble? What does it mean to Wanda? To Margaret?

Essay Topic 2

Why does Margaret begin searching for the owner of the single tea cup her father stole from a Jewish child? How does Margaret find out the name of the owner? How does Margaret go about contacting the true owner? What does she learn about the owner? Who is the owner? How does this action bring Michael to Margaret's house? When does Wanda learn that Michael is her father? How does Michael learn the truth? How do they react to one another?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following in detail, using quotes from the novel to support your conclusions:

1) Themes that appear in the plot, including friendship, grief, mortality, and family.

2) Character relationships, including an analysis of how they impact character motivation, how they change with time, and how characters change with changing relationships.

3) The use of the authorial voice in the narration of the novel, as well as the chosen point of view of the novel.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 976 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample