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. What zodiac sign was Gwendolyn?

2. Which great-aunt did Trethewey spend much time with as a child?

3. What kind of disposition did Trethewey have as a child?

4. What popular television show had Trethewey watched all summer in 1973?

5. In which organization was Trethewey's father once an officer?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Trethewey remember fearing about her drives around Atlanta with Joel?

2. How long after her mother's death did Trethewey go back to the site of her murder, and why?

3. What image did Trethewey keep in her head from the first day after her mother's death?

4. What name did Trethewey's father bestow on her in his fiction writing and why is it significant?

5. Why did Gwendolyn not see her father after about age 16?

6. What did Trethewey remember most clearly about leaving Mississippi for Atlanta in 1972?

7. What nightmare did Trethewey have shortly after moving to Atlanta?

8. Why did Gwendolyn's paternal grandmother, Narcissus, dislike Gwendolyn's mother?

9. When and where did Trethewey first encounter racism from other children?

10. What monument was very close to the apartment where Trethewey's mother was killed?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What were Trethewey's mother's and grandmother's experiences with the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

At the end of her memoir, do you think Trethewey has found any kind of peace regarding her relationship with her mother and her mother's killing? Why, or why not? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific information from the text to support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

How and when did Trethewey become aware that her parents are separating? What were her feelings around the separation at that time? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 683 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample