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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 9 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Seraphina suspect about her nannies?

2. What does Seraphina do after she learns the nannies are not there and her son says he is hungry?

3. What is Seraphina's son's name?

4. Who believes that the nannies love their job more than Seraphina loved being a mother?

5. What is Seraphina's daughter's name?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Hadley's experience at the library when she looks for a baby to borrow.

2. How does Seraphina feel about her life as a mother?

3. Why does Hadley consider running away with Gemma when she takes her from the library?

4. Who comes to Hadley's apartment after she arrives with Gemma and where are they from?

5. How does Seraphina discover her nannies are gone and how does she react?

6. How does borrowing a baby make Hadley feel about her lot in life?

7. How does Paul behave around Seraphina?

8. Why do the women who come to Hadley's apartment say they think she is one of them?

9. What does one of the woman who comes to Hadley's apartment say to Hadley when she says that borrowing a baby is not a crime?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay examining the babies and motherhood as a symbol in "Graceful Burdens." In what scenes does this seem most significant? What is the context? How do these work to develop the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing Roxane Gay's commentary on gender in "Graceful Burdens." How is gender important to the story? How does it effect the narrative? Use textual evidence to explain your analysis.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the author of "Graceful Burdens." Who is she? What else has she written? How is "Graceful Burdens" similar or different from her previous works?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 576 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample