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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 is the name of the reporter that Plum describes as being on television all day with Jennifer coverage, "as if she were covering a war" (156)?

2. What nickname does Sana often call Plum?

3. When Plum emerges from her clothes-shopping trip in her new red dress, she says that for the first time, she does not mind doing what?

4. On what part of Marlowe's body is her tattoo that reads, "Women don't want to be me, men don't want to fuck me" (133)?

5. What implement does Dr. Ahmad use while he is planning Plum's various surgeries?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Plum dreams that she has lost a lot of weight by using Dabsitaf, what is the significance of her dream?

2. In what way is Plum already familiar with Marlowe before she meets her at Cafe Rose?

3. Describe the arc of Plum's writing career over the course of the novel.

4. What is the final step of the New Baptist Plan?

5. Who does Plum call when Verena tells Plum to call anyone who will notice she is missing once she moves into The Calliope House? What do her choices reveal about her life prior to connecting with the women of The Calliope House?

6. What is ironic about Kitty's insistence that "all girls are beautiful" (241)?

7. What is the author's purpose for including the reporter Cheryl Crane-Murphy's remark, "As a committed Christian, it pains me to admit that I feel nothing but glee at the death of these pigs" (155)?

8. What does Plum see while following Kitty into a coffeehouse that stops Plum in her tracks?

9. How is the theme of passing depicted within Julia's experiences at Austen Media?

10. What is the significance of Plum's ultrasound image?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the many instances of irony within the novel's narrative and analyze the author's purpose for including each instance you discuss.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's use of humor alongside humanist messages within the novel.

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Sarai Walker's novel Dietland. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.

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