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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. What is the weather like at the funeral service?
(a) It was foggy.
(b) It was sunny.
(c) It was cold.
(d) It was rainy.

2. How does Ellen's father die?
(a) Suicide.
(b) Natural Causes.
(c) Murder.
(d) Alcoholism.

3. How does Ellen explain the item on her arm?
(a) Her father gave it to her as a present.
(b) She bought it.
(c) Her father put the squeeze on her.
(d) She fell.

4. What well-to-do relative of Ellen's attends the funeral?
(a) Her maternal grandmother.
(b) Her aunt.
(c) Her paternal grandmother.
(d) Her uncle.

5. How long does Ellen's new roommate let her stay when Ellen runs away from her father's home?
(a) A week.
(b) Forever.
(c) The weekend.
(d) A month.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Ellen wear her coat to bed?

2. Who visits Ellen at school after she is a ward of the state?

3. What occupation does Aunt Nadine have?

4. Who does Ellen tell the teacher she wants to live with when the teacher asks Ellen to call someone to pick her up?

5. Who are Rudolph and Ellis?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Ellen's grandmother's removal of Ellen's mother's clothes symbolic to the story?

2. How does the author create a reversal of the mother-daughter role in the novel?

3. Why does Ellen choose Starletta's parents when asked by the school board if Ellen has someone to take care of her?

4. How can a reader tell that Ellen may harbor some prejudices toward African American people?

5. How does Ellen's selection of gifts show that Ellen has to take responsibility for herself?

6. In what way does Ellen use reading?

7. How is Ellen's former life and her new life an example of dualism?

8. What are some of the fun and leisure activities Ellen is granted in her new home?

9. How is Ellen's obsessive side shown in Chapter 6?

10. Why does Ellen have to make sure that she retrieves the envelope of money from the mailbox before her father can get to it?

(see the answer keys)

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