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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. Who reviewed Charlotte's medical records with Hastings?

2. What did Connie initially think the investigator Hastings hired was?

3. What alternative possibility did Hastings offer Sibyl in Chapter 12?

4. In Chapter 14, what did Sibyl and Rand decide to allow Connie to do?

5. What did the female past-patient that Tanner put on the stand say in her testimony?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Hastings' winning of a motion to review Charlotte's medical records important?

2. What was significant about the manner in which Sibyl stitched Charlotte's body?

3. Why did Hastings want a jury full of older women?

4. Why did Sibyl sew up Charlotte's abdomen after the baby was delivered?

5. What did Hastings say about home births to make his point about their safety relative to hospital births?

6. Why did Hastings involve blood evidence and home birth experts before Sibyl was even charged?

7. Why did Tanner depict Charlotte as a frail woman?

8. What was Connie's reaction to seeing the word "vagal" written on a conference room board at Hastings' place of business?

9. Why was it important for the prosecution to make the point that Anne was an enthusiastic student who did not believe in interfering with birth unless absolutely necessary?

10. Why did the prosecutor put the state trooper on the stand to testify?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why is Connie's career choice controversial? Why did some people think her choice was a slap in the face for Sibyl? What does Connie hope to accomplish as a medical professional?

Essay Topic 2

Why is Sibyl charged with manslaughter? How does Charlotte's death fit the definition of manslaughter? What defense does Stephen Hastings use? Is his defense reasonable? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

How is the motif of childbirth portrayed in Midwives? Which characters are comfortable with childbirth? Which characters are not? Do any of the characters change in their views toward childbirth by the end of the novel?

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