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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. When do Hanna and her mother go off to swim?

2. Who is Trudi's father?

3. What is said is the result of what Trudi's mother did?

4. Where does Hanna's mother go swimming?

5. What happens when the mother goes into labor?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Trudi call Hanna's father's actions concerning his marriage and what does Hanna think about that?

2. What does the narrator's mother learn when she returns to the convent after starting labor?

3. How did Trudi's mother dropping her supposedly affect her?

4. When does Hanna's mother most like to swim?

5. What does Siegfried do as a result of the dream and why does he do so?

6. What happens to Hanna's paternal grandmother and how does she cope?

7. What is Hanna's mother told by the nuns when she goes to the convent, and what is the mother's response?

8. What is the problem with the narrator's mother in White Lilacs and what does she do?

9. What is wrong with Renate's leg and why and how does Hanna try to fix it?

10. What do the townspeople say is the source of Trudi's dwarfism?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hanna's grandmother is saved from death by a faith healer who massages darkness and pain out of her body that has little to do with the blood clot that is threatening her life. In this case, however, believing in something spiritual, in something impossible, seems to have spared Oma's life. Connected to this story is the story of Renate, the young friend of Hanna's with a polio damaged leg. Hanna uses Oma's story of the faith healer to attempt to fix Renate's leg. While the treatment does not change Renate's leg, it repairs their friendship which adds to Hanna's belief in the practice.

1. Discuss, in depth, why you think Hanna's grandmother was healed of the blood clot. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Why do you think Hanna attempting to heal Renate's leg restored their friendship? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Do you think a person who works to heal their emotional or past pains can have an effect on the body of that person? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Many novels, and perhaps a majority, of novels ends on a happy note. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think many (most?) people want what they perceive as a happy or good ending to a novel? Explain your opinion. Do you? Why or why not?

2. What are three reasons to read fiction? Discuss each one in light of Floating in My Mother's Palm and whether or not it fulfills all three, two or one of the reasons you mention. Give examples as to why Floating in My Mother's Palm is or is not successful in fulfilling the reasons you discuss.

3. Do you think reading solely for entertainment is as good a reason to read as any other? Why or why not? Can any work of fiction or non-fiction, no matter how poorly written, enlighten, teach, stimulate thought? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Many readers of fiction place themselves in the position of one character, wondering if they would do the same thing as that character. Discuss the following:

1. Do you think one of the values of literature is to serve as a reflection of oneself? Why or why not?

2. Socrates said "Know thyself." How can reading a book such as Floating in My Mother's Palm help a reader to know him/herself? Do you find yourself reflecting on your own character and abilities when reading Floating in My Mother's Palm? Why or why not.

3. Choose one specific incident in Floating in My Mother's Palm to discuss and compare one of the characters' response to how you think you would respond.

(see the answer keys)

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