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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. How does Elaine feel about girlish things like braids and purses?

2. What trick does Elaine begin using to get out of situations she doesn't like?

3. What does Jon's note to Elaine under the mat say?

4. What makes the narrator remember Cordelia?

5. How does Elaine feel about Grace Smeath's mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. What habit does Elaine develop because of Cordelia's bullying?

2. How does Elaine react to Jon's ex-girlfriend's anger?

3. What does Elaine think of Ben when she first meets him?

4. What does Carol tell all the other children about Elaine?

5. What lie does Elaine tell to cover her suicide attempt, and why?

6. How does Elaine feel about Carol, Cordelia, and Grace when she sees them everyday after she starts sixth grade?

7. Why doesn't Jon want to come to Elaine's art show?

8. How does Cordelia act when Elaine's father comes to check on the girls watching the parade?

9. What does Elaine imagine will happen the day a famous figure is scheduled to come down her street in Toronto?

10. What gives Elaine a reprieve from the other girls' tormenting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Elaine's feelings toward Cordelia.

1) Why does Elaine always think she sees Cordelia, wherever she goes?

2) How is the reality of meeting Cordelia different from Elaine's fantasies about meeting Cordelia, and why?

3) Does Elaine have a realistic idea of what Cordelia is like? In what ways is Elaine's perception of Cordelia flawed, and in what ways is it accurate?

4) What are Elaine's positive and negative feelings toward Cordelia? Are the two women friends? Have they ever been friends?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss control in the novel.

1) Elaine believes that Cordelia wants her to kill herself, and is putting thoughts of suicide in her mind when Elaine is a young girl. How does Cordelia control her at that age? Does Elaine have a choice in the relationship?

2) Who has the control when Elaine and Cordelia are in high school, and why?

3) Does Cordelia continue to control Elaine, even when they are apart, years later in their lives?

4) Why does Elaine allow Josef to control her during their relationship?

Essay Topic 3

Elaine believes that she's good at leaving. Discuss the role of leaving in the novel.

1) How does Elaine separate herself from Cordelia and her other friends? What does leaving the situation involve, emotionally, for Elaine?

2) How and why does Elaine leave Josef and Jon? Compare Elaine's acts of leaving her lovers with leaving her former friends.

3) What other things does Elaine leave behind in the novel? When she leaves something behind, what parts of it does she still carry with her? Is leaving a good thing?

(see the answer keys)

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