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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. What does Alice ask Mother to sign in Part Four?

2. How do Nonna and Alice communicate?

3. Why is Mother's appearance changed when Alice goes to visit her after Nonna's funeral?

4. Alice quotes someone, maybe her father, as saying, "A man sounds like money when he-"

5. How does Alice say she misses her mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Mother live apart from the family in California in Part Three: The Big House?

2. Why does Mother tell people that Father was a sculptor?

3. Is Alice happy at the end of the story?

4. Explain why Alice finds herself in a lawyer's office when she is 30-years-old.

5. What does Mr. Early represent to Alice?

6. Does Alice love Uncle Billy and Aunt Frances?

7. What is the impact of Mr. Early's death on Alice?

8. Describe Alice's coping mechanism for dealing with hurtful memories of people in her past.

9. Describe Alice's Walter.

10. How does Alice repeat her mother's mistakes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does Father's absence or Mr. Early's presence in Alice's life have a greater impact on the person she becomes by the end of the story? Write an analysis of this question and support your answer with specific examples from the story.

Essay Topic 2

Consider the role of creativity, art and literature in Florida.

1)Compare and contrast the way that Father, Alice and Mr. Early use literature in their lives.

2) Do Mother's artistic talents contribute in any meaningful ways to the lives of anyone in the story?

3) How does Alice use her own literary talents in a meaningful way?

Essay Topic 3

Alice has multiple parental figures, good and bad, in Florida. Answer the following questions using examples from the story.

Who is a better mother: Mother or Nonna?

Who is a better father figure for Alice: Mr. Early or Arthur?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 878 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample