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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 exercise does Jo do with her students in Part IV?

2. What is Marsha's business?

3. What is the name of Marsha's business?

4. What tune does Jo think she might have stolen part of for her own song without quite realizing it?

5. Who is the daughter of the woman who calls Val in Part IV?

Short Essay Questions

1. What feeling comes over Vern at the opera festival that he cannot quite place?

2. Why does Jo never end up playing her music for Ricky in Part III?

3. What does Val think is specifically wrong with her sex life with Mike?

4. How does Jo think of her relationship with Ricky in Part III?

5. How does Ben diffuse the tension between Marsha and Gloria in Part IV?

6. How does Ben generally get along with Marsha's adult sons?

7. What does the woman Val helps at her volunteering position tell Val about why she is so upset?

8. What does Mike do in Part III that horrifies Val and changes the course of her life?

9. What are some things about Marsha that Ben admires?

10. What does the old drunk man at the market say to Mike and the other Neo-Nazis?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are some of the most significant factors that hold Jo back from achieving success as a musician in her own right? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Who passes by the old Woolworth's building as an elderly woman, and what unusual and almost supernatural quality or characteristics does Spufford imbue the building with at that time? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How and when does the reader begin to understand the severity of Ben's struggles with Schizophrenia? Write an essay analyzing Spufford's descriptions of Ben's experiences with the disease, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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