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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 is the man doing when he spots Caroline in the lookout?

2. Besides Randy, what does Caroline carry everywhere?

3. In what city do Father and Caroline live?

4. In what year does the story begin?

5. What item in Caroline's new bedroom does she remember having when she was younger?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Caroline and Father end up getting found by the police?

2. Who is "Vincent," and why does Caroline object to Father working with him?

3. Why does Caroline leave her encyclopedias behind when she is taken into state custody?

4. What surprises the child welfare workers about Caroline's physical and mental condition?

5. What is the symbolic significance of Caroline's and Father's watches?

6. When they return to the park, what does Father find in the hollow in the crook of the tree, and what do he and Caroline do with it?

7. In the beginning of the book, what activity are Caroline and Father engaged in, and why?

8. What elaborate ritual do Caroline and Father have for sharing food in a way that does not alert people that they are together?

9. What arrangement have the social services people come to with Mr. Walters?

10. What does Clarence tell Father when Father and Caroline find the men's camp?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that compares and contrasts the attitudes Jean Bauer and Mr. Walters display toward Caroline. Use textual evidence to defend your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Some readers have been disappointed by the book's ending. They would rather see Caroline reunite with her family in the end of the book and live a "normal" life. Write an essay in which you explore how this would impact the book's meaning and use textual evidence to defend a position about whether Peter Rock's ending is or is not successful.

Essay Topic 3

One of the thematic motifs in My Abandonment is the difference between appearances and reality. Write an essay that explores how Father and Caroline's characters and the events of the story reveal the book's preoccupation with the difference between the way things seem and the way they really are. Offer textual support for your claims, and if you use outside sources, be sure to credit them in MLA format.

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