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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 happens to what the girls bring up from the cellar?

2. What does the specialist say about Antoinette's breast cancer?

3. What do the girls do after being exhausted from fighting?

4. What does Leonie take out before leaving?

5. What does Antoinette do under the influence of morphine?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the chapter, "The Holdall," how does what Léonie finds while going through Thérèse's things demonstrate the differences between the two women?

2. In "The Onyx Ashtray," what are the ways the Priest conspires to keep the knowledge about the found bones from becoming a focus for the media?

3. How is the dream connected to Léonie's dream in the first chapter?

4. How does Léonie symbolically enter the adult world in the chapter titled "The Ironing Board"?

5. The chapter titled, "The Water Bottle" is dense with imagery. Identify two of the images and what they might represent.

6. What do you think is the significance of Thérèse's threat of "the silent treatment" to Léonie?

7. In the chapter "The Photographs," what in the photographs displayed again reveals the different focus of the two women when they are girls?

8. What is a possible reason the author has Léonie jabbing her cigarette in the air to emphasize the argument with Thérèse?

9. What does Thérèse notice in the graveyard in the chapter "The Doorbell"?

10. Describe the vision experience that Thérèse has in this chapter.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Though this novel contains a complex interrelationship of themes, characters, and imagery, each character, even those not born at the time, is affected by the occupation of the Nazis and their execution of the Jewish family which Henri and Rose shelters. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-developed essay using examples from the book as well as personal experience:

1. Trace how Antoinette has been affected by the Nazi occupation of the Martin house and the village. Give examples and discuss what you think actually happened to Antoinette down in the cellar and how that informs the rest of Antoinette's life.

2. After doing some research, discuss how the country of France in general reacts to the Nazi persecution of Jews of French citizenship. Give examples and relate your research to what happens in this novel.

3. Discuss why you think Léonie chooses to reveal what she knows about the events during the Nazi occupation. Is there any reason for going back to the past and trying to place blame? Should anything happen to the informant this long after the actual event? What do you think should be done?

Essay Topic 2

There are two sides to the Martin house. One side is proper and presentable, and the other is full of darkness and threatening secrets. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-developed essay using examples from the book as well as personal experience:

1. Describe both parts of the Martin house and list some of the imagery associated with each part.

2. Can the Martin house be an analogy for humans, i.e., we all have a "dark" and a "light" side to our personalities. Discuss yourself or someone you know and the traits that's that you consider dark or light and show how those traits can be said to belong to one part of the Martin home or the other. Explain why you assign a trait to one side or the other.

3. Literature is replete with the idea that life is duality--good or evil, hot or cold, sad or joyful.... But much of life rather than being a duality is various shades or mixtures of opposites. Talk about this idea and use examples both from Daughters of the House and your own experiences.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 15, we learn that the wood floors of the house are marked by the German soldiers' boots, and the original red tiles are permanently ruined, and Antoinette has had carpet put down to cover these marks. Answer the following questions in a well-developed essay using examples from the book as well as personal experience:

1. How are the floors symbolic of psychological scars and whose scars? Give details and examples.

2. There seems to be a general conspiracy to cover wounds of the past in this story. Who decides to figuratively pull the rugs out from under everyone's feet and reveal what is under them and why does she decide to do so?

3. Do you think it is healthy to "cover up" past scars so that one does not have to think about them? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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