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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. Who is Mr. Early?

2. How does Uncle Billy believe that Father died?

3. What does Mr. Early notice about Alice?

4. What does Alice expect when she visits her mother in the last chapter?

5. What does Mother say was true of Nonna's husband?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Who is the most positive father figure in Alice's life?

3. How has Mother and Alice's relationship changed when they are living on different coasts?

4. How is Arthur's death handled by Alice's family?

5. What does Mr. Early represent to Alice?

6. Describe the life that Alice creates for herself in New York.

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

8. Why is Nonna kinder to Alice than she is to Mother?

9. Is Mother's interpretation of father's death believable?

10. Describe the circumstances of Arthur's death.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What motivates the greed, if you think they are greedy, of the following characters in the story: Uncle Billy, Alice, Mother, Aunt Frances?

Essay Topic 2

Explain how the following events contributed to Alice's coming of age in the novel.

1) Mother going to the San.

2) Moving to the Big House.

3) Arthur's death.

Essay Topic 3

Symbolism is seen in both Mother's fondness for naming things and in the use of locations as chapter titles.

1) Compare and contrast the Emerald Gem and the Mouse.

2) How do Arlette's stories differ from the Big House chapters?

3) Define Mother via these items: the Magnavox, the sun box, and her lost glove.

(see the answer keys)

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