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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 woman say to the husband before she takes her money box and walks down the street?

2. Why does Angus think Cam made a mistake in charging Jamie with murder?

3. What time of year is it as the story begins?

4. What potion does Allie help Ellen prepare?

5. What does Allie hear after falling into the water and coming up under the boat?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Ellen McDonald embrace New Age ideas after her husband's death eight years ago?

2. Why does Angus McDonald leave Scotland and move to Wheelock?

3. What kind of wife is Allie to Cam?

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

5. After she has sold everything and is waiting for her husband to come home, what does the woman remember reading about?

6. What is the library lecture given by Verona MacBean about?

7. What is Jamie's theory about marriage?

8. What does Cam think Mia smells like?

9. What does the reader sense about Cam's feelings for Mia after they are introduced in his kitchen?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What was Jamie's theory about marriage? How did it apply to what he did to Maggie as well as her asking him to do it? How did it apply to Allie and Cam's marriage?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Who is the true protagonist of Mercy, Jamie or Cam? Is there a hero in the novel? Fully explain your answer with references to both plot and themes.

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This section contains 700 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample