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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does David think of immediately after having been with Bev?
(a) Rosalind.
(b) Soraya.
(c) Lucy.
(d) Melanie Isaacs.

2. As David and Lucy try to normalize their life back at the farm, what room ultimately becomes Lucy's new room?
(a) The room David is staying in.
(b) The old dining room.
(c) The old library.
(d) Her storage room.

3. What is it that David tells Rosalind he is working on when she asks him if he will look for another job?
(a) Starting a clinic for sick dogs in Cape Town.
(b) A book of critical essays.
(c) An opera.
(d) A book of poetry

4. On the day after the party, with what kind of work does David help Petrus?
(a) Repairing locks.
(b) Repairing windows.
(c) Laying pipe.
(d) Mending fences.

5. Who is it that accosts David and has a threatening conversation with David about staying with "his own kind."
(a) Elaine Winter's husband.
(b) A former female student.
(c) Dr. Rajool.
(d) Ryan.

Short Answer Questions

1. Later during the day of this ride back from trying to get David's car, David and Lucy communicate again about their difference of opinion regarding Lucy's staying on the farm. What is their method of communication at this time?

2. After Lucy and her father discuss their version of their stories that they told the police, what is it that he is bothered by?

3. In the article in the local paper about the attack, how is David described?

4. What is one of the issues that Lucy feels is a motive for the assault on her and her farm?

5. When David suggests he will look to poetry to learn how to become a grandfather, who is the poet he has in mind?

Short Essay Questions

1. The description of Teresa in the last chapter is, "She wants to be rescued--from the pain, from the summer heat, from the Villa Gamba, from her father's bad temper, from everything." This is about David's fictional character, but fiction is based upon what writers know. Does this description hint at David or Lucy's need for respite?

2. David mentions that he has "never been given to lingering involvements" as he tries to figure out what is driving him to go see Melanie's play. What then motivates him to go?

3. When David brings in his dog to Bev, the description is, "Bearing him in his arms like a lamb. . ." What does this image evoke?

4. Is there a symbolic significance to the characters of his libretto in progress "fading away" and being replaced by the corpses of dogs, his new work?

5. How is David's remark "If she [Bev] is poor, he is bankrupt," that concludes this chapter revealing?

6. What is one to make of Petrus's lack of reaction to David's accusation that one of the men at his party is the assailant?

7. In Chapter 16, when David talks with Bev about his fear of Lucy living alone on the farm, he says he was there and knows what Lucy has been through. Bev responds that he was not there for her. How does David react to that claim?

8. When David rhetorically asks, "Against this new Petrus, what chance does Lucy stand?" what is his implied answer?

9. Do Petrus's responses to David's rage about the assault seem truly suspicious or might the reader be judging them through David's lens?

10. What does David make of Lucy's claim that she only went to the police after the attack for insurance purposes?

(see the answer keys)

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