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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 kind of therapy involves exposing yourself to the thing you are most afraid of, and realizing that it is irrational?

2. Where does Tara take her friends on the way home from school in Chapter 21?

3. What question does Tara greet Sam with when he arrives in Chapter 18?

4. What activity would Sam compulsively do, according to his story in Chapter 18?

5. What is one factor of Sam's recovery, as explained in Chapter 18?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has Tara's emotional life evolved in Chapter 13?

2. What does Sam bring Tara in Chapter 22? Why?

3. How does Christmas Day end for Tara in Chapter 14?

4. What new behavior has Tara adopted in the beginning of Chapter 15?

5. How does Tara describe her experience in the Christmas play in Chapter 13?

6. How does Tara describe her relationship with Sam in Chapter 23? How has Tara grown by the novel's end?

7. What fortunes are read by Tara's family at the Chinese restaurant in Chapter 16?

8. What does Tara go with Donna to purchase in Chapter 20? Why?

9. How does Tara's mother feel after taking Tara to a doctor in Chapter 15? How has Tara's behavior progressed?

10. How does Tara describe her analysis of her dream from the beginning of the novel in Chapter 23?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the role that religious obsession plays in obsessive-compulsive disorder. What other symptoms are significant which are displayed by Tara in the narrative? Would you have diagnosed Tara as OCD based upon her behavior? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss both religious allusion and the narrative voice in the novel. Is the novel written in present or past tense? From whose point of view? What religion is Tara? How does she feel about her religion? Why does Tara find solace in religion?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss intrusive thoughts as symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. How are intrusive thoughts defined? How are these symptomatic of OCD? How do intrusive thoughts differ from things like a passing crush or worry about a test? What are examples of intrusive thoughts in Tara's character?

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