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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 does the wife remember the husband saying to her a few months ago about the last gift he had given her?

2. Why was Mia lonely during her childhood?

3. Where is Maggie buried?

4. What is the name of Mia's cat?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How did the Clan McDonald end up settling in Wheelock, Massachusetts?

3. What is Mia's strongest childhood memory?

4. Why does the woman wrap the stained glass panel in newspaper and hide it behind the toilet?

5. What reaction does Cam have to Mia the first time he sees her in Allie's shop?

6. What is significant about the first picnic Allie and Cam had together?

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

8. What surprising information does Cam learn from the private detective?

9. Why is euthanasia not a good defense for Jamie's trial?

10. Why does Jamie dislike the prosecutor in his case?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the character of Mia and what she symbolizes in the novel in general and/or to different characters.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Picoult begin the novel with these lines from a William Carlos Williams poem: "What power has love but forgiveness?/ In other words/ by its intervention/ what has been done/ can be undone./ What good is it otherwise?" What is the significance of these words to the plot and themes of Mercy? What is the difference between forgiveness and mercy?

Essay Topic 3

How did Allie and Cam evolve as characters from the beginning of the novel to the end?

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