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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 Debi recall her daughter doing when she brought a boy named Rob over, which Debi could not fathom?

2. What is Debi's daughter's name?

3. What does Pammy ask Alma as she stares at Debi from across the street?

4. How does Debi describe her daughter when thinking "somehow she'd go stuck with the wrong kid" (7)?

5. What does Debi imagine Alma would say to her if they were in Heaven at the same time?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Debi try to cope with the fact that Vicky ran away from her?

2. Describe the scene at Paul's gravesite a few days after his funeral.

3. Who is Vicky? Describe her relationship with Debi.

4. What does Pammy say to Alma when they first see Debi? How does Alma respond?

5. What was Debi's relationship with Paul, Sr.? How does Debi feel about Paul and his behavior?

6. What happened when Vicky brought a boy name Rob over? In what way did Debi embarrass Vicky? What did Vicky do that Debi found absurd?

7. Why does Debi think she should have been born in the future?

8. When did Vicky leave? Where did she go? With whom? What was the last word Debi received from her daughter?

9. What has Debi done in her past which she admits makes her no angel?

10. Why is Debi surprised Alma's children pay any attention to her on Mother's Day? What did Debi see Paulie doing at Wegman's the day before Mother's Day?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss elements of the narrative structure: Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the themes of self-delusion, resentment, identity and motherhood?

Essay Topic 2

Write a brief essay analyzing Saunders's choice to write "Mother's Day" in alternating past and present tense. Do you agree with this choice? How would the story be different if written entirely in one tense?

Essay Topic 3

Read George Saunder's New Yorker interview about "Mother's Day." Write an essay about what you learned about the story through reading the interview. How, if at all, does this interview change the way you view the story's characters and themes?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 837 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample