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. Where does Moth go after she gets back from looking through Sani's windows in Part II?

2. What is ginger root supposed to be for?

3. What does Moth take from Aunt Jack without asking?

4. How many stages do moths take to blossom?

5. What does Moth do first thing every morning for the ancestors?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is strange about the question Ashley asks Sani when he first comes to Moth's school?

2. Why does Moth want to throw a massive party after Aunt Jack leaves?

3. Why does Moth think she might not hate this coming summer as much as she has hated the past two?

4. What does Moth mean when she says she is living "a secondhand life" (5)?

5. Why does Moth say deadness does not bother her?

6. What does Sani do with Moth after she has been sitting outside in the cold for hours the night she wanted to have her party?

7. Why does Sani smash his guitar at Moth's house in Part II?

8. In Part II, what is Moth's dominant emotion as school ends and the summer just begins after Aunt Jack leaves?

9. What does Moth articulate as the significance of names, in general, in Part I?

10. What does Moth's grandfather use for the finding spell?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What significance does McBride attach to the name, behavioral patterns, and symbolism of "Moth" and moths in the opening pages of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing McBride's use of extended metaphor throughout this novel, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How does McBride communicate Sani's difficulty in finally letting Moth go at the end of the novel? What is the significance of Sani's song for Moth many years later that he ends up playing at Madison Square Garden? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 728 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample