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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 the narrator compare time to?

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

3. What relationship does Cordelia have to the narrator?

4. What starts to happen to Elaine when her family is on its summer trip?

5. Does the narrator think she'd recognize Cordelia today?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does Elaine believe she sees when she comes out of the cold water?

2. While Elaine is dating both Josef and Jon, how does she feel about the two men?

3. Why is Cordelia in the rest home?

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

5. Why doesn't Charna want Elaine to be in the gallery when people begin arriving for the art retrospective?

6. At the art retrospective, what does Elaine wish she could ask Cordelia?

7. In the last chapter, what does Elaine realize about the day she fell into the ravine?

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

9. How does Elaine's mother greet her after she comes out of the cold water?

10. Describe Elaine's experience when the girls leave her in the hole.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the culture of women in the book.

1) How does Elaine perceive other girls when she is young, before she has girl friends, and what is her perception of her first girl friends?

2) How does the culture of women in the book differ from the culture of men? How is Elaine a different person with women than with men?

3) How does Elaine interact with women as an adult, and how does this relate to her early experiences with other girls?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the use of point of view in the book.

1) Why is this book told in the first person, from Elaine's point of view? How would it be different if it were told by a different narrator?

2) Does Elaine provide an accurate account of the world around her? How is her view of the world biased or flawed?

3) What would the reader gain from understanding Cordelia's perspective, or the perspective of another character?

Essay Topic 3

There are many instances of theft and begging in the novel. Discuss the significance of theft and begging to the novel.

1) Why does Elaine think of Cordelia when someone tries to steal her wallet? In what way has Cordelia stolen from her?

2) Why does Elaine always give to people who beg from her? Why does Elaine think one woman who comes to beg from her might be Cordelia?

3) Who has stolen or taken (emotionally) from Elaine during her life? Is Elaine partially responsible for these instances?

(see the answer keys)

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