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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 did Gwendolyn write about Joel's feelings towards Trethewey?

2. In what month did Gwendolyn's divorce from Joel become final?

3. What did Joel do to torment Gwendolyn on a regular basis?

4. What month did the medium ask Trethewey about the significance of towards the end of their session?

5. What did Joel tell his therapist years later about coming to see Tretheway in Part IV?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Gwendolyn decline an invitation to Jimmy Carter's inaugural ball?

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

3. What did Trethewey consider about the medium's words to her after she listened back to the recording of their session?

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

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

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

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

8. What news did Trethewey share with Gwendolyn and Joel that prompted Gwendolyn to stand up for her?

9. What did Joel do that used to make Trethewey sob with fear and anxiety in Part III?

10. What did Gwendolyn give Trethewey that provided a "crucial outlet" for her (106)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 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

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.

(see the answer keys)

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