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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. Several days after the attack on the farm, what does Ettinger offer David?

2. After the attack, what has happened to the books that David brought for research on his Byron project?

3. When David speaks to Petrus about watching the farm, what place does he mention as a possible place for Lucy to go and get a rest?

4. Which character in the final chapter says, "I am determined to be a good person. You should try to be a good person too?"

5. Who returns to the farm several days after the attack on the farm?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. What has Lucy's banjo become for David?

3. Compare or contrast David's explanation of his punishment to Lucy's stance on staying on the farm.

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. How might Lucy's and David's switching of bedrooms be construed as symbolic of some other switch between them?

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. How might one interpret Elaine Winter's treatment of David at the grocery store?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Chapter 16. The character of Petrus is not as fully realized as other characters, namely David, Lucy and Bev. Nonetheless, he is an important character. Explain what role Petrus plays in the character development of the other characters.

Essay Topic 2

What is it that brings about the ethical and moral transformation of David in Chapter 14? Is this transformation the result of his experiences and trauma of the violent attack or is he "replacing" the vitality that Lucy lost?

Essay Topic 3

Chapter 16. How might the party Petrus has be a symbolic event in the story? Might this event crystallize conflict in the story?

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