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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. Why does Mariah have to go back to New Canaan?

2. How many people come to early mass on October 10?

3. What does Mariah tell her mother when she asks who has called so late?

4. What is the title for the official in the Catholic church whose sole responsibility is to find holes in cases of proposed sainthood?

5. Who does Rabbi Weissman call regarding Faith?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Ian tell Mariah about his childhood?

2. Why does Ian not call his producer when he sees Mariah on the plane?

3. Who is Malcom Metz?

4. What does Mariah dream the night after she and Ian make love?

5. Why did Teresa Civernos decide to contact Petra Saganoff?

6. When did Father Rampini decide to become a priest?

7. Why doesn't Mariah put people in her dollhouse?

8. What is Father Rourke's analysis of Faith?

9. What does Kenzie see when she goes to the White's home?

10. What does Joan Standish say in Mariah's defense at the custody hearing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On August 30, Faith "knows that truth can cause a sharp pain behind your eyes and that love sometimes feels like a fist around your throat. Explain how truth can cause pain and how love can be compared to a fist around the throat. Use examples from the novel that show when Faith might have experienced times when truth was painful and times when love felt like it was strangling her.

Essay Topic 2

Several "miracles" happen in the novel. The author recounts Millie's apparent death from a heart attack, a couple who reconcile, a baby that is healed, and Ian's autistic brother. Using arguments that the characters use in the novel, argue whether or not any of these incidents could be considered miracles.

Essay Topic 3

At the beginning of Chapter 15, Picoult uses a quote from Sophocles. Explain how the novel shows that "[c]hildren are the anchors that hold a mother to life."

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,000 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample