View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Joan first meet Paul, the Polish Count?

2. What is the profession of Joan's father?

3. What new thing does Joan try in Chapter 10?

4. What does Joan buy in Rome?

5. Who is Joan's fictional heroine?

Short Essay Questions

1. What role does Marlene Pugh reappearance in Joan's life play?

2. Why does Joan like to go to the movies with her Aunt Lou?

3. Describe Joan's personality while in high school.

4. Who does Leda Sprott see standing behind Joan at the Spiritualists' meeting?

5. Describe Joan's approach to meeting Paul and having a relationship with him.

6. How is Joan's relationship with Arthur based on lies?

7. What is the significance of Joan seeing her mother's astral body?

8. How does Joan see her father differently after she returns home for the funeral?

9. Why does Joan want to start a new life?

10. How does Arthur make it easy for Joan to continue to lie to him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does the ending of the novel suggest that Joan has some hope of retiring her former double life and becoming a person who enters into relationships with honesty? What does Joan's interaction with the reporter in the hospital suggest about how Joan has changed or not?

Essay Topic 2

Lady Oracle was published in 1976. How does Joan's life as a woman reflect the attitudes of that time? Compare her life as a wife to her life as a romance novelist. Which allows her to move beyond traditional roles? Do you think she is a character who is ahead of her time?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Arthur's political causes. Does he seem to have a positive influence on political change? Why is it ironic that he and his resurgence group plan to blow up the Peace Bridge?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 860 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample