View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is Lucy?

2. Lucy tells Mariah the story of Jesus and ____________________.

3. What does Lucy feel about Mariah's happiness?

4. What does the maid try to teach Lucy to do?

5. What mode of transportation does Lucy take for the first time with Mariah and the girls?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the usual content of Lucy's mother's letters to her?

2. What is the overall description of Lucy that emerges from Chapter One?

3. What are some of the things that Lucy cannot stand and what does she not understand about the family?

4. How does Chapter One begin?

5. What does Lucy note about the train ride to the Great Lakes?

6. How did Lucy fit in with the family?

7. What does Lucy feel about spring and why was Mariah sad on the first day of spring this year?

8. What were Lucy's first impressions of the lake house and her experience there?

9. Why has Lucy come to America?

10. What is revealed about Lucy at the beginning of Chapter One?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the role of the family in LUCY. What does family mean to each of the main characters? How does the family evolve in its support of each other? How typical do you think Mariah's family is as compared to other wealthy families in the mid-20th century? How does Mariah's family differ from Lucy's family back in the islands?

Essay Topic 2

LUCY is sometimes defined as an autobiographical piece based on Jamaica Kincaid's life. Do some research about Kincaid's life and describe how Kincaid based the novel on her own life experiences.

Essay Topic 3

Betrayal seems to be almost an unnamed character in the book. How pervasive is the sense of betrayal Why does it have such a prevalent place in Lucy's life? How about Mariah's life? Explain how an inanimate object, a characteristic, or a concept can be a character.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 840 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample