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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. How does Joan react when she sees E.P. Revele?

2. Why does Joan think her book will sell?

3. What letter is missing from Joan's typewriter?

4. What job does Joan take after high school?

5. Why does Joan hide her career as a novelist from Arthur?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is discovering that Paul writes romance novels valuable to Joan's life?

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

3. Describe Joan's search for a fresh approach to her writing.

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

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

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

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

8. Describe Arthur's state of mind in Chapter 20.

9. How does Joan's mother try to control Joan's weight?

10. Why does Joan try to stop the publication of Lady Oracle?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What kind of person is Aunt Lou? How does she act as a positive role model for Joan? Does Joan ever act in ways that remind you of Aunt Lou? Provide specific examples from the text to support your responses.

Essay Topic 2

Terremoto, where Joan flees after faking her death by drowning, means "earthquake" in Italian. Discuss the significance of this setting as a symbol for Joan's new life. What does Joan expect her life to be when she arrives there? Does it meet her expectations?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Joan's actions that show her as a woman who is independent but also submissive to the men in her life. When she leaves her double life behind, how does she begin to show that she is becoming more assertive?

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