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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 is Seraphina's daughter's name?

2. What does Seraphina accuse her husband of when he suggests she is angry?

3. What do the women who visit Hadley tell her that do?

4. What is the name of the baby Hadley borrows from the library?

5. What does the voice on the other side of Hadley's door say after Hadley does not answer to the knocking?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. 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?

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

7. How does Paul behave around Seraphina?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Write an essay exploring the themes of freedom and control in "Graceful Burdens." What images, objects, actions, or symbols represent these themes? Use strong textual evidence to support your exploration.

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 582 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample