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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 Ava think about the baby's life to come?

2. What does Joyce show Ava is in the envelope Ava has?

3. Who walks in the room while Joyce is demonstrating condoms?

4. With whom is Ava spending a lot of time in her second month?

5. How does Joyce feel about the girls' progress in the last six months?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Ava do the first time the Sewing Circus meets at Joyce's?

2. What does Ava see and do at Eddie's house?

3. What does the success of the Sewing Circus move Joyce to do?

4. Why does Ava get angry at the pharmacist when she went to get her prescription?

5. What do Eddie and Ava do after talking and how does Ava feel about it?

6. Describe the dream Ava has in Eddie's garden.

7. How does Ava feel about going to church with Joyce and what does she notice about the new preacher?

8. What does Joyce do for work, with whom does she work, where do they meet, what are they called, and why?

9. Why has Mattie come to Joyce's house and what happens?

10. What do Eddie and Ava want Joyce to do and how do they try to convince her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Two themes present themselves in these chapters: adversity and ignorance.

1. Explain what you think this statement means. Use examples from the book to support your answer.

2. What do you think are the best ways to change people who are ignorant about social issues? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Do you think Reverend Anderson's behavior in kicking Joyce from the church room reflects a harmful or helpful attitude on the part of a minister? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

The theme of rising above adversity continues to thread throughout the book, and the author reveals some of the mechanisms that people use to accomplish that feat.

1. What do you think is meant by this statement? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. What do you think are some of the mechanisms people use to cope with adversity? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

The author's use of time shifts is an effective technique that allows her to share Ava's thoughts without the benefit of dialogue with another character.

1. Why do you think using flashbacks is an effective technique to tell about Ava? Use examples from the book to support your answer.

2. Chose one scene in the book that is a flashback and rewrite it as a dialogue between Ava and another person to convey the same information. Which method did you like better?

3. Write a brief summary of what you learned about Ava via the flashbacks. Include not just facts but her emotions and thoughts.

(see the answer keys)

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