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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 occurred to Trethewey about the medium after she left her session?

2. Where did Joel often take Trethewey on their drives?

3. What song became Trethewey's anthem in Part III?

4. What did Joel want to do in Part III that Trethewey was dead set against?

5. Why did Trethewey stop doing her hair in Part III?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way was Trethewey careful about how she answered the medium's questions?

2. Who did Trethewey confide in about hearing Joel beat her mother, and how did that person react?

3. How did Trethewey learn to figure out whether Joel was in the house or not in Part III?

4. What happened after Trethewey's "rational mind" took over when considering what the medium had told her (129)?

5. How long was it before Trethewey had a chance to read her mother's notes that were taken from her briefcase by the police?

6. What did Gwendolyn do just weeks before her death that Trethewey revealed in Part IV?

7. What does Trethewey wonder about what might have changed the course of hers and her mother's lives in Part III?

8. What did Trethewey tell her mother when Gwendolyn told her Joel wanted to adopt her?

9. Why did Gwendolyn admonish Trethewey about her hair in Part III?

10. What did Trethewey go out of her way to avoid in Atlanta when she moved there as an adult?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Which extended family members of Trethewey's were most influential in her early life and upbringing, and why? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

What do the few objects Trethewey kept after her mother's death - the belt made of bullets, the dieffenbachia plant, and a few books - say about her relationship with and feelings about her mother? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

How did Trethewey connect her recurring dreams about her mother and her own near-drowning experience as a child? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 762 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample