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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 Elaine have to drink while she's at the store?

2. How does Mrs. Smeath characterize the children's mistreatment of Elaine?

3. Who offered Elaine a place to stay in Toronto?

4. In the present time, where does the narrator look as she walks down the street?

5. What job does Elaine give up?

Short Essay Questions

1. What view did Elaine have of Toronto as a child?

2. What do Elaine and Cordelia do at lunch time, when they first go to high school together?

3. How does Josef react to Susie's injury?

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

5. How does Elaine feel when she attributes her feelings to Cordelia, instead of to herself?

6. How does Elaine react to the other girls' bullying?

7. What nightmares does Elaine have her senior year in high school?

8. How does Elaine feel toward her ex-husband when she meets him again?

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

10. Throughout the novel, who does Elaine think she sees in crowds or around town?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel is full of imagery of sight, sound, and smell. Discuss the use of imagery in the book.

1) How does Elaine describe the city of Toronto? How do Elaine's descriptions reflect her feelings?

2) How does the imagery of Elaine's paintings relate to the novel and Elaine's life?

3) What imagery is associated with different periods in Elaine's life?

4) Discuss the imagery of blood in the novel. What does the blood from Elaine's self-mutilation symbolize? What about the blood of miscarriages, suicides, and the botched abortion?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the significance of Elaine's art retrospective.

1) How does the art retrospective make Elaine look back on her life? How is her artwork related to the progression of her life?

2) How does Elaine feel about the art retrospective, and why does she feel this way? How does she feel about her paintings and about her career as an artist?

3) Why does Elaine want her pictures presented chronologically?

Essay Topic 3

The characters who hurt each other in the novel are those who are supposed to love each other. Discuss love, friendship, and betrayal in the novel.

1) Do Elaine and Cordelia ever have a friendship? Do they love each other? Why do they hurt each other?

2) Compare Elaine's relationships with Jon, Ben, Stephen, her parents, Cordelia, and Josef. What does love mean for Elaine in these different relationships?

(see the answer keys)

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