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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. Which of the following does Margaret observe with a “beautiful winter coat”?

2. What do Margaret and Anna drink together at the pub?

3. Which of the following frequent Margaret’s bird-feeder?

4. Where does Peter claim to Christine he is when he calls her after his fight with Ivan?

5. How old was Ivan when Christine left?

Short Essay Questions

1. Whom does Margaret posit Anna thinks her romantic entanglement is?

2. Why does Ivan avoid getting a taxi when he visits Margaret at her home?

3. What holiday plans does Christine try to get Peter and Ivan to attend?

4. How does Naomi support herself?

5. Why is Margaret satisfied with the performance of the Goldberg Variations at her workplace?

6. What had been Margaret’s hope in leaving her husband?

7. How does Anna’s mother contrast with Margaret’s?

8. Why does Margaret increasingly appreciate the town in which she lives?

9. What, ultimately, does Peter want from his professional life?

10. How did Ivan react to his friend’s promotion to International Master?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does Intermezzo bear as much out?

Essay Topic 2

To what other writer’s work in your experience does Rooney’s seem most similar? What makes the writers similar? What differentiates them? Overall, which do you regard as doing better at the craft of writing, and why?

Essay Topic 3

To what genre other than psychological fiction might Intermezzo be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 510 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample