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

2. At the end of the chapter, about whom is it that David responds to Bev, "Yes, I am giving him up?"

3. Shortly after Lucy and David arrive at Petrus's event, why does Lucy want to leave?

4. On what day of the week do Bev and David load the car with the dead dogs?

5. What has David told Rosalind is a hobby, but in fact is something that "consumes" him?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. David explodes at Pollux and says to himself, "Swine. . .Teach him a lesson. Show him his place." How do these remarks reveal the racial attitudes David evidently has?

4. When David read the article in The Herald that reports the story of the assailants and what happened at Lucy's farm, how is his reaction in keeping with his character?

5. How is it appropriate that David is awakened by a spitball when he is in the theater?

6. After Lucy is raped and she and David give their report to the police, David asks her why she omitted the fact that she was raped. What reason does she give her father for this omission?

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. What is there about Lucy's description of her rape that she thinks that David cannot before this have understood?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Review David and Lucy's relationship in Chapters 7, 8, and 9. How might their relationship be representative of a generational gap? Is Lucy's stand and concerns in any way a reaction to her parents' lives or is her simplistic life one she freely chose?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the parent and child role in Lucy and David's relationship in Chapter 9 & 10. Explore who is taking on the nurturing and care-taking responsibilities and who is being coddled and disciplined. Also explore what role the countryside setting plays in this role-reversed relationship.

Essay Topic 3

Chapter 12. Explain how Lucy's rape altered her personality. Discuss Lucy's remarks about the issue of racism and inherent guilt in South Africa and how this guilt influences her beliefs and actions thus far in the novel.

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