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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 instruction had Julia been giving to Alice when Alice had taken some action against Julia?

2. What is the verdict from the person who comes to conduct a home visit with Alice and Julia?

3. What is NOT one of the activities in which Julia is said to now participate more freely?

4. Julia reflects upon the fact that Ellie had always drawn strength from which character?

5. What activity does Ellie suggest the advice-seeker take once per day in order to build a bond with Alice?

Short Essay Questions

1. Compare Alice's feelings about Earl and Myra's house to her feelings about the church.

2. What hypothesis does Julia form about Alice's early childhood and why does she form it?

3. What does the narrator mean when describing Ellie as both happy and unhappy as a result of her reunion with Julia?

4. What coping mechanisms does Max use to cope with his dark mood on Christmas day?

5. What prompts Julia to leave Max's house in Chapter 17?

6. For what reason does Julia accept Max's invitation to ride on the back of his motorcycle?

7. What reason does Cal give when Ellie notices his rare sense of melancholy on the evening of Christmas day?

8. What two words does Alice think in Chapter 20 upon becoming "lost in the sea of faces and bodies" (278)?

9. What does Ellie's choice of porch chair in Chapter 13 tell Julia about her state of mind?

10. What element of the car ride with Alice bothers Alice and what does Julia decide to do about the situation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In what way does Hannah utilize irony within the text? Discuss at least three uses of irony within Magic Hour and explore each instance's connection to a theme contained within the text.

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Hannah’s novel Magic Hour. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Hannah’s use of the motif of sound within the novel Magic Hour.

(see the answer keys)

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