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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 color were the goldfish at the pond that Eva and her parents often visited in Poland?

2. Where in New York did Eva meet somebody who knew her parents before the war?

3. How much younger was Eva's sister than her?

4. What, according to Eva's mother, was a necessary part of a lady's equipment?

5. What did Danuta Dombarska, the blond girl who lived in the next building in Poland want to be when she grew up?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was it important for Eva's mother to have a maid? What role did this maid play in her idea of what a homemaker was?

2. How did Pani Ruta live during the war and why was her family untouched by what was happening to the Jews?

3. What was a sanatorium and why did Eva's mother have to go to a sanatorium for a while?

4. Why did Eva's parents go to synagogue and practice religion?

5. What, according to the author, was middle class in the Poland of her childhood?

6. What was Eva's education like in Poland? Do you think she was getting two different educations? How did the teachers help the students understand what was important?

7. How did the author describe illness in Poland and illness in Canada? What were the differences between how children were treated when they had a cold or the flu in the two countries?

8. What emotion did Eva have when she heard the Polish National Anthem as her ship left for Canada?

9. What, according to Eva, threw an "odd light" on Pani Orlovska?

10. How was life on the ship to Canada like a family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the story, explain the meaning of "being Jewish" to the author. Give examples of how she explains her "Jewishness" at different times in her life and how her views of her ethnic background changes with each major geographical move in her life.

Essay Topic 2

Name small ways of intimacy that made a difference in Canada. How does Eva feel about these things? What is her reaction to them? Support your discussion by using examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Compare the meaning of friendship in Poland and Canada through the eyes of the author? What about her friendships in New York? Does she finally get the kind of friends she wants? How does she describe them?

(see the answer keys)

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