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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 does Joan find on her doorstep?

2. Who is arrested for murder?

3. What does Joan learn about herself at the end of the novel?

4. In Chapter 33, who does Joan dream is dressed in a navy blue suit and crying behind locked glass doors?

5. What does Joan hide in Royal Porcupine's basement?

Short Essay Questions

1. What role does the picnicking family play in Joan's plan to disappear?

2. In Chapter 31, how is it clear that Joan is beginning to unravel?

3. At the end of Chapter 28, why does Joan feel she has to "get away, as quickly as possible?"

4. Why is it important that Joan decides to stay and defend herself rather than run?

5. How do people in town respond when they see Joan?

6. What kind of love does Royal Porcupine express for Joan?

7. What is the significance of the discovery of Joan's buried clothes?

8. What does the reappearance of The Fat Lady in Chapter 27 suggest about how Joan perceives herself?

9. Describe Joan's plan to fake her death.

10. Explain Arthur's response to 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

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?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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