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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 thinks she should have gotten the lead in the Hebrew School play instead of Bethie in Part I?

2. Who is Bethie's boyfriend in Part II?

3. What does Sarah tell Jo during their fight at Thanksgiving?

4. Why does Jo come back home after she runs away on Thanksgiving?

5. What kinds of protests does Jo attend during high school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What role does Jo's high school friend Lynnette play in her life?

2. What does Jo get for Bethie as a gift in Part II?

3. When Jo is a young child and standing outside the Kaufman's new home on Alhambra Street for the first time, what makes Sarah so angry?

4. How does Bethie control her weight in Part II, once she gets to college?

5. How does Dev treat Bethie in Part II?

6. Why is Jo hesitant to believe Shelley might like her romantically in Part II?

7. What starts happening to Bethie when she goes to her Uncle Mel's house every week?

8. What does Bethie remember about being Esther in the Hebrew School play when she was 11?

9. Why does Sarah tell Jo and Bethie that Mel refused to give their father a loan some years before their father died?

10. How does Bethie put a stop to her Uncle Mel's abuse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How and when does Jo first begin to feel her mother's disapproval? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Sarah Kaufman views Bethie as her "good" girl, and she holds high hopes for Bethie's eventual marriage; Sarah seems to see her other daughter Jo as a lost cause and even goes so far as to call her "unnatural." But by Part III, when Jo is married with children and Bethie is drifting around the country and the world, the sisters have switched places in their mother's eyes. Write an essay exploring how Bethie's and Jo's relationships with Sarah change over the course of the novel, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Weiner's treatment of the theme of redemption, especially as she explores it through Jo's and Bethie's characters.

(see the answer keys)

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