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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 do Theresa and Garrett do after dinner on their third date?

2. What overshadowed the most joyful day of Garrett's life?

3. What does Theresa do inside the house while Garrett cooks the meat during their third date?

4. How much longer does Theresa stay after the first night she and Garrett spend together?

5. After Garrett returns home from Boston and begins thinking of Catherine again, what day with Catherine does Garrett recall?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Garrett rethinking his relationship with Theresa after Thanksgiving?

2. Why does Garrett's father visit him in his shop at the start of Chapter 10?

3. Who visits Garrett after he comes back from Boston?

4. Why does Theresa break off her relationship with Garrett?

5. What message does the last bottle from Garrett contain?

6. How does the relationship between Theresa and Garrett evolve in Chapter 8?

7. What does Theresa do for lunch the day she receives flowers from Garrett?

8. What did Garrett do after his first night with Theresa?

9. What are Garrett's and Theresa's feeling toward each other at the end of Chapter 9 ?

10. What lesson ddoes Theresa learn at the end of Chapter 11?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Message in a Bottle" expresses humanity's capacity for love and relationships, but love and life appear simultaneously in the novel, revealing the human condition and human frailty. Discuss the motif of love in "Message in a Bottle," analyzing how love can be both destructive and regenerating.

Essay Topic 2

Setting can deepen the story line and help deepen your characters' traits. In the novel, "A Message in a Bottle," the sailboat acts as one of the settings in the story and is important to many major scenes in the novel. Define setting in your essay and then discuss how it contributes to the story and the character development. What does the sailboat represent in "Message in a Bottle?" Why does the sailboat's destruction have importance in the novel? Provide a few examples from the story to help support your statements.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss why flashbacks are used by Nicholas Sparks in "Message in a Bottle." Give examples of how they are used and to what purpose, as well as why Sparks may have chosen to use flashbacks instead of writing the book so that it started three years prior. Give examples from the book to support your discussion.

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