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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. How did Trethewey and her mother often get around the city in New Orleans?

2. What advice did Trethewey's great aunt give her when she was still a child?

3. What did Joel tell Trethewey was the reason his feet were deformed?

4. Where did Trethewey and her mother move after her parents separated?

5. Which writer wrote, "All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware?"

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. What question did Trethewey's mother ask her in her dream in Part I?

7. Why did Trethewey's father encourage her to become a writer?

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

9. What does the photograph from May 1974 make plain to Trethewey when she looks at it now?

10. What was Trethewey's last image of her mother while her mother was living?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What did Trethewey learn from the pages of her mother's notes that were in Gwendolyn's briefcase at the time of Gwendolyn's death in 1985? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Why did Trethewey decide not to tell her parents the first time children insulted her because she is mixed race? What connection did Trethewey make between this incident and her path to becoming a writer? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 717 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample