View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is a search organized in the town?

2. What happened on New Year's Eve, 1952?

3. What happens to Karin?

4. What creates a whirlpool?

5. What do other people take for granted concerning Hannelore?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Hanna do at the river when she is upset at her father?

2. Where does Manfred Weiler's family live?

3. Who is Veronika and why does she eat all the pastries that Hanna's mother serves?

4. What happens to a young couple who are in their car and who do the townspeople think is responsible?

5. How and why does Anton cull his violets?

6. What upsets Hanna about her father after her mother died and where does she go to get away from the situation?

7. Why does Hannelore leave her brother's home?

8. How does Hanna describe Hannelore's personality?

9. What did Rolf tell Hanna not to do?

10. Who is the new person in town and how does this involve Hannelore?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rolf confronts Hanna about the joke. Hanna becomes angry and tells him that his father abandoned him because he did not want him. Rolf has never been told the truth about his father, therefore he is deeply upset by Hanna's words. When Rolf does not return home that night, a search is organized. The following morning Hanna finds Rolf near the river. Hanna tells him all she knows about his American soldier father. Rolf sends Hanna to learn more. Finally Rolf agrees to go home.

1. From the information given on Hanna's pranks, do you think she carried pranks too far? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Do you think Hanna was wrong for telling Rolf about his father? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss the ways in which Rolf's knowledge of his father might change his life. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Hanna learns more about her parents as she grows older. This collection of stories tells the reader some of the things she learned about her parents as a young girl. Hanna learned that her father is a conservative man who often does not act impetuously. However, Hanna's father was engaged to another woman when he met and decided to marry her reckless mother. Hanna studies her parents' relationship and sees them as balancing one another out, her father keeping her mother safe and her mother injecting some happiness and excitement into her father's life.

1. How do you think a child's views of her/his parents change as they grow older? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Explain the cliche: Opposites attract; in relation to Hanna's parents. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. How do you think Hanna's life was affected by her parents' relationship and their individual differences? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Characters are an integral and important part of almost all novels. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Hanna and Renate. How are they similar? How are they different? Is there a flaw in each of their personalities? Be specific and give examples.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of the architect and Manfred's father. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character?

3. Thoroughly analyze how three of the secondary characters in Floating in My Mother's Palm help drive the plot and what their contribution is to the storyline. Are any of the secondary characters unnecessary? Indispensable? Which of the secondary characters are likable? Which are either unlikable or even despicable? Be specific and give examples.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,050 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample