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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 two character traits does Byrdie manage to combine in high school?

2. How does the narrator characterize the routine Peggy gets into with her new baby?

3. What kind of writers does Lee start to cultivate after he feels washed-up in poetry?

4. How does Lee pull out of the parking lot after he thinks he sees Mireille?

5. What does Lee spill on his pants when he thinks he sees Mireille in a parking lot?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Peggy adapt to life as a mother?

2. What is Lomax’ background?

3. What is the house like where Meg and Karen take refuge?

4. How does Lee embarrass himself when he thinks he sees Mickey?

5. How does the narrator know Meg is burdened by the lies she tells Karen?

6. What is the basis of Lee and Peggy’s attraction?

7. How does Lee’s poetry change as his con grows up?

8. What does the narrator say is Byrd Flemings social status in high school?

9. Why does Peggy flee from Lee’s house?

10. How does Zink describe Mireille’s relationship with her father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What makes Mislaid so funny? What are the assumptions it riffs on? What are the expected types or actions or reactions it plays again, by providing the unexpected type, actions, reactions?

Essay Topic 2

What makes Mislaid a fun book to read? What lines or scenes, in particular, are enjoyable to read, and why? How does Zink create the effects that are enjoyable? Pay attention to the language she uses, and tease out the literary devices she used to arrive at the satisfaction you found.

Essay Topic 3

To what extent is Mislaid a novel about class? How does class figure in Mislaid, and how do characters like Lee and Peggy engage with the concept of class? Do they change relative to the ideas they start with, or do they change their ideas?

(see the answer keys)

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