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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 much money did Mary believe the Moore family inherited from Grandma Moore's estate?

2. At the opening of the novel, in what room of the house was Mary lying when the doctor arrived?

3. What type of alcohol was Pete known to keep in his truck?

4. To which caged animal did Mary compare her mother while visiting the Houston zoo?

5. What color gown did Charlie see Marlene Dietrich wearing when she stepped out of the limousine?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Mary initially feel about Antelope when she and her family first moved there?

2. What happened to Mary while she was out at the bar with Pete during her school vacation?

3. What startling event did Mary experience while driving in the car with her mother to Lubbock as a child?

4. How did Charlie and Pete first meet?

5. What happened during the fight between Mary and Big Bertha?

6. What was the effect of the many years of hard drinking on Pete's body?

7. What parts of the school system in Antelope were different than the school system in Leechfield?

8. How did Mary learn to cope with her mother's mental instability, particularly after Charlie's breakdown after inheriting a large sum of money from Grandma Moore?

9. What did Pete witness of the hurricane when he refused to evacuate to Lubbock with his family?

10. What information did the girls receive from their father about their mother's whereabouts after she was committed to the psychiatric ward?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Around Mary's tenth birthday, Pete and Charlie begin to struggle for power in their relationship, a conflict that comes out in various ways in the relationship. First, explain how Pete attempts to exert his power in the relationship and compare / contrast that to the way Charlie attempts to exert her power in the relationship. What is the same about their struggles for power? What is different? What is the effect of this power struggle on the maturity of the children in the house? Be sure to include at least two scenes from the memoir to strengthen your arguments.

Essay Topic 2

Charlie's family history is one looming in shadow, as she is a woman who has kept many dark secrets. Choose two of Charlie's dark secrets that she keeps hidden in her past and explain them. Then, describe how Mary learned her mother's dark secrets. What were her reactions to these secrets? Then, explain how Charlie's dark secrets affected Mary and the way she was able to bond, and trust, her own family members, both in childhood and adulthood.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout her childhood, Mary struggles to recognize the differences between fantasy and reality. First, briefly describe the fantasy world Mary created for herself in her childhood and compare / contrast that to what was really going on in Mary's reality. Then, choose one scene from the novel in which Mary specifically creates a fantasy to overshadow the reality of her life. Where did Mary learn this method of coping with a dark reality, and when did she typically choose to employ this method? Be sure to include at least two examples of scenes from the memoir to strengthen your arguments.

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