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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 greets Ellie as she enters her Upper West Side building?

2. What does Ellie miss about her relationship with her father?

3. How can Jeremiah tell he is Black?

4. Why is Jeremiah transferred into Ellie's history class?

5. Ellie remembers that Marion often said that all people are equal, as they all do what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ellie respond when her father asks her about the boy from school?

2. What is Carlton's response when Miah brings up Ellie?

3. What do various family members tell Jeremiah about his blackness?

4. How does Jeremiah feel about his new teammates?

5. How does Jeremiah feel now that his parents are separated?

6. Why does Jeremiah now attend Percy?

7. What kind of person is Jeremiah looking for?

8. How does Anne react when she finds out Jeremiah is Black?

9. How does Jeremiah reveal his intelligence in his first day in history class?

10. How do Ellie and Jeremiah first meet?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Early in the story Miah says he does not fit in, as he is Black but worldly. How does the story reveal that Miah’s father is in much the same way an outsider? What other characters do not fit the typical mold? How does this affect them? How do they deal with this? What is the author’s purpose for creating these unique characters?

Essay Topic 2

Frequently the author mentions rain or sun. What is the connection between the weather and the main characters and events in If You Come Softly? Why might the author have decided to create this relationship? How does noting the weather influence the tone of the book? How does this affect the reader?

Essay Topic 3

How do Jeremiah and Ellie feel about themselves? How do they both see a kindred spirit in the eyes of the other? How does this finding of themselves in the other influence their feelings towards each other, as the story progresses?

(see the answer keys)

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