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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 finally do when Alma continues to glare at her "as if stuck"(8)?
2. What does Debi imagine Alma would say to her if they were in Heaven at the same time?
3. What did Debi's ex-lover, the salesman from Ohio, always have with him?
4. How does Debi describe her daughter when thinking "somehow she'd go stuck with the wrong kid" (7)?
5. What did Debi do a few days after Paul's funeral?
Short Essay Questions
1. Why does Debi think she should have been born in the future?
2. What has Debi done in her past which she admits makes her no angel?
3. How does Debi try to cope with the fact that Vicky ran away from her?
4. Who is Vicky? Describe her relationship with Debi.
5. Describe the scene at Paul's gravesite a few days after his funeral.
6. 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?
7. 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?
8. When did Vicky leave? Where did she go? With whom? What was the last word Debi received from her daughter?
9. What was Debi's relationship with Paul, Sr.? How does Debi feel about Paul and his behavior?
10. What does Pammy say to Alma when they first see Debi? How does Alma respond?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay exploring the theme of motherhood in "Mother's Day." Discuss Debi and Alma as mothers and their present relationship with their children. How do these relationships speak to the themes of the past, regret, and self-delusion?
Essay Topic 2
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?
Essay Topic 3
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?
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This section contains 823 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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