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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 Bethie demand from Uncle Mel in Part I in return for not revealing what he has been doing to her?

2. Where is Jo when she receives the phone call from her doctor telling her her cancer has returned?

3. What is Jo's father's name?

4. What novel does Bethie find in Jo's dorm room?

5. Who is married to Jo's and Bethie's Uncle Mel?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sarah treat Jo and Bethie differently when they are little girls?

2. What news does Jo receive in the section of Part I titled "2015"?

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. What kinds of protests does Jo attend in college, and what causes does she care most about?

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

6. How does Dev treat Bethie in Part II?

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

8. What happens between Jo and Sarah at Thanksgiving dinner in Part II?

9. Why is Jo so upset when she returns from Lynnette's on Thanksgiving Day in Part II?

10. What does Bethie try for the first time when she visits Jo at college in Part II?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Why does Jo end up going to Shelley's wedding, and how does her experience there change the course of her life forever? Why does Jo finally agree to marry a man? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

How do the struggles of Jo's three daughters, Kim, Melissa, and Lila, reflect and embody some of the same problems she, Bethie, and even their mother Sarah encountered as women decades earlier? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your arguments.

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