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. Where did Mia once work in a café about the same time Cam was there?

2. How much money did the woman make at the yard sale?

3. What was Angus wearing as he left his house at 3 a.m. to go talk to Cam?

4. When do Cam and Mia finalize their plans to meet?

5. What does Allie offer to the strange woman she finds in her flower shop?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the epiphany Jamie has while attending the library lecture?

2. In the opening of the novel, what does the woman do after her husband comes home to a house that has been emptied of his possessions?

3. How does Ellen burn herself when she and Allie are trying out their healing potion?

4. What is Jamie's theory about marriage?

5. What does Mia tell Cam as they are cleaning up the pictures she spilled in the bedroom?

6. What proves to Allie that is was a good decision to hire Mia to work in her shop?

7. What is one of the valuable objects of her husband's that the woman gives away for pennies at the yard sale?

8. What does Allie learn about Maggie's condition from her doctor?

9. Why does Cam secretly hire a lawyer for Jamie?

10. What is Jamie's concern when Allie volunteers to go to his hometown of Cummington and speak to his neighbors and friends?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss what Jamie does for a living and how Picoult used his work to illuminate both characters and themes. How does his work impact what happens between Jamie and Maggie?

Essay Topic 2

What is the purpose of the second-person notes between the chapters? Who is the author and who are they intended for? What impact do they have on character development and themes of Mercy?

Essay Topic 3

What are Cam's contradictory convictions and how does he struggle with them throughout the novel? Does he finally resolve them by the end of the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 628 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample