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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. Which of the following images did Trethewey remember seeing the morning after her mother's death?

2. Where did Trethewey go on vacation with her parents in Part I?

3. Where did Gwendolyn get a job in the early years she and Trethewey were in Atlanta?

4. Where did Trethewey's mother take her at Grant Park as a special treat one weekend?

5. What experience from Mexico did Trethewey always remember with some trepidation afterwards?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why did it take longer than it might have for Trethewey to realize her father and mother had separated?

4. What pain did Trethewey's grandmother describe long after Gwendolyn had died?

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

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

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

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

9. What was unusual about the plant Trethewey saved after her mother's death?

10. Why did Trethewey's father want to take her and her mother to Mexico in the 1960s?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does the large birthmark on the back of Threthewey's leg symbolize for her, and how does it relate to her relationship with her mother? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What did Trethewey think about her mother's decision to visit a psychic weeks before her death? Why did Trethewey herself decide to visit a medium as an adult? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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