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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 Ruth do when Lucille talks with her?

2. What does Sylvie show Ruth on the island?

3. What does Lucille bring home from the store?

4. What happens to the pressed flowers the sisters find?

5. What does Sylvie do with all the newspapers and magazines in the house?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where do Sylvie and Ruth spend the night when they leave the island?

2. What does Lucille do about the sewing after fighting with Ruth?

3. Why does Sylvie wake Ruth up before dawn after Lucille has left?

4. What happens when Lucille yells at Sylvie about sleeping on the bench?

5. What happens when Sylvie and Ruth take a boat at the lake?

6. What does Sylvie do when she and Ruth stop at an abandoned farmhouse on the island?

7. How does Ruth respond to Lucille when she begs Ruth to leave Sylvie?

8. What happens when the sheriff comes to the house to see about the fire Sylvie lit to burn trash?

9. Why does the sheriff visit Ruth and Sylvie and what do some neighboring women do about his visit?

10. What does Lucille decide she and Ruth need to do about their life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lucille finally gives up on Sylvie and gets taken in by a teacher at school. How did this affect Ruth? How do you think you would have reacted to the same situation?

Essay Topic 2

How do you think Ruth and Lucille feel about themselves, taking into account their father deserting them, their mother committing suicide and their aunts, Lily and Nona, not wanting to stay with them? Illustrate your answer from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Ruth and Lucille's mother commits suicide in the first chapter. How do you think this event affected Ruth and Lucille's emotional and mental health? What do you think could cause a mother to commit suicide with two small children waiting for her at home?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 819 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample