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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. How does Temple see himself once he starts at UVA?

2. How does the narrator characterize Temple’s mother, Dee?

3. How does Lee handle the topic of Byrdie’s case over the holidays at his parents’ house?

4. Which of Kipling’s works influenced Byrdie’s choice of major?

5. What is Meg’s take on the controversy about school funding?

Short Essay Questions

1. What changes lead Meg and Karen to leave their shack and move to a housing development?

2. How do Lomax and Meg end up at the Squirrel Sanctuary?

3. What is the “holy shit moment” that happens in the courtroom (215)?

4. What are Meg’s three fears about getting caught dealing drugs?

5. How did Karen get the nickname “Shadow” (139)?

6. How do Byrdie and Mike end up talking with the police after the party?

7. How does the narrator characterize the secret society Byrdie joins at the University of Virginia?

8. How does Karen end up involved deciphering Temple’s love letters?

9. How does Meg finally make her breakthrough as a writer?

10. How do Lomax and Meg skate by when a local cocaine bust does not touch them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does Mislaid have a message, or teachable moments, where the humorous qualities recede, and meaningful things take place? How does Mislaid either use or evade that humor, to get that meaning across?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate your own reading of Mislaid—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,066 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample