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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. How many "main kinds" (60) of the color green does Francescho tell Barto exist in the world?

2. What word featured in the fresco did Francescho change before abandoning her position as a court painter under the marquis?

3. Francescho recalls that her mother had named which two things as necessary in order "to get to live the life we're meant for" (112)?

4. When the woman whom Francescho has drawn asks to have the drawing, what condition does Francescho set?

5. What word does Francescho consistently shorten in a modern way throughout the her first-person narration of Eyes?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the first meeting between Cosmo and Francescho.

2. For what reason did the protagonist of Eyes have need of a new name?

3. What crime did Cosmo likely commit the night after his first encounter with Francescho?

4. Which element of the fresco in Borse's palace had the Falcon insisted must be changed in order to avoid the wrath of Borse and others?

5. What is Francescho's attitude toward the painter called Cosmo?

6. What is "the rite of Mnemosyne" (127) and who proposed its use to Francescho?

7. How had Francescho first come to be acquainted with Barto and in what activity did they generally engage when they met thereafter?

8. What story does Francescho recount about "the infidel worker" (83) whose likeness she had eventually painted into Borse's fresco?

9. With whom had Francescho spent her final moments and what is revealed to be the fate of this character?

10. How does the theme of family bonds arise within Francescho's statement about his top three most influential artists?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the function of H's character within the novel? Discuss the characterization methods used by Smith in depicting H and include in your discussion the reasons that Smith portrays H in these particular ways.

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the theme of family bonds within How to Be Both. What is Smith’s message regarding family and how do you know?

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Smith’s novel How to Be Both. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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