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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 Clive's mother do to his paintings?

2. How does Deighton die?

3. What does Selina realize when she sees the manner in which Mrs. Benton treats her daughter?

4. What happens on the walk home after the Association meeting?

5. How dowa Selina plan to change things for Clive?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about Selina's call to Rachel Fine for help in finding a job?

2. What does Selina think about Ina making her engagement announcement in a less than excited way?

3. What kind of symbolism is embedded in Selina's new job?

4. How does Selina's manner of dress following her father's death reflect her inner emotional state?

5. In Book 3, Chapter 8, why does Selina ask Deighton to take her to see Father Peace?

6. Does Selina's experience with the Modern Dance Club reinforce Clive's belief that the White people who belong to it are racists?

7. Why does Miss Thompson tell Selina the story of how her foot became ulcerated?

8. Why is Selina mistaken in trying so hard to promote Clive's art?

9. What does Selina think about the Association?

10. What does Clive's relationship with his mother teach Selina about her own relationship with her mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Silla and Selina have a volatile relationship. Describe and analyze the changes that take place in their relationship over time. In what way(s) does Selina evolve into a person like her mother? Different from her mother? Does she embody more of Silla's negative characteristics, or more of her positive characteristics? Do you think that Selina surpasses her mother in character? Why or why not? Support your position with statements from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

The topic of sexuality appears often throughout the book. How does it relate to Selina's coming of age? Which elements or shifts does Selina experience in her understanding of sexuality as she is growing up? Give an overall time line of Selina's knowledge, and sum up her status by the end of book. Does she have a full understanding of sexuality? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the characters of Deighton and Clive, the two primary male characters in the novel. How are they alike in their influence over Selina? How do their characters differ? How does Selina differ in her interactions with each of them? What does she learn from them?

(see the answer keys)

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