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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. Mary Nell Fickett explains how she intends to help Lisa Shilling--she refers to the process as...
2. Where do Betsy Goodman, Mary Nell Fickett, and Lisa Shilling first meet for an impromptu group therapy session?
3. Betsy Goodman states that she is...
4. Lisa Shilling's conversation with her parents opens the novel. Lisa tries to tell her parents that she thinks she might be crazy because...
5. Lisa Shilling's conversation with her parents opens the novel. Lisa tries to talk to her parents about something important. Lisa's mother, Mrs. Shilling, responds by doing what?
Short Essay Questions
1. Who is the narrator in chapter one?
2. Describe Mary Nell Fickett's and Besty Goodman's initial attempts to secure professional help for their friend Lisa Shilling.
3. What kind of a job does Mr. Goodman do as an insurance salesman?
4. Why is chapter one presented in italic type face?
5. Why do Mr. and Mrs. Shilling ignore their daughter's repeated assertions that she is mentally ill?
6. Describe the chronology of the four main characters' friendships (in other words, who is friends with whom first).
7. Why does Betsy Goodman self-describe as the least important person in the narrative?
8. In what is Mr. Shilling primarily interested?
9. Describe the nature of the relationship between Brian Morris and Lisa Shilling in the early part of the novel.
10. Why does the narrator spend so much time establishing which protagonist is better looking, which is more intelligent, and which is from a wealthier family?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Elizabeth Frazer was diagnosed with an unspecified but severe mental illness at about age twelve or thirteen. She spent four years committed in an asylum under the care of Dr. Neil Donovan. She then moves to the town of the novel's primary setting and lives there for about a year or perhaps two. Immediately, she is noticed by Lisa Shilling who feels some type of affinity for her because they both somehow share the bond of mental illness. Discuss this strange attraction. Is it credible? How might it arise? Why does Elizabeth not run away from Lisa as representative of a past she herself has struggled with?
Essay Topic 2
Describe the process of maturation demonstrated by the character of Mary Nell Fickett. How does she change and grow during the events of the novel?
Essay Topic 3
Enumerate Lisa Shilling's major symptoms and discuss them within the context of the novel. Do any of Mary Nell's analysis efforts shed light on a potential diagnosis for Lisa? What do you think would be Lisa's diagnosis? Do you believe that having a specific diagnosis helps or hinders professional treatment?
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This section contains 1,179 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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