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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 do Father and Caroline end up building with the wire Caroline brings home?

2. When she is riding in the police car, what does Caroline refuse to do because she doesn't "want them to think anything untrue" (53)?

3. What does Caroline say that Valerie tells her is a "fake thing to say" (62)?

4. What is Caroline's first impression of Mr. Walters?

5. What special effort does Mr. Walter make to make Caroline feel at home?

Short Essay Questions

1. The novel opens with Caroline reflecting that "There's nothing to do but keep walking, you have to be ready for everything" (3). What does this comment tell the reader about Caroline's state of mind?

2. Describe Randy's appearance.

3. What comparison does Father make in the question he asks the officers who are driving him and Caroline to the farm?

4. What does Valerie say she dislikes about Caroline, and what seems to be the real motivation for her hostility?

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

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

7. At the end of Part Two, what two things does Jean Bauer give to Caroline, and how does she demonstrate that she has been listening to Caroline's complaints about her room?

8. What do Father and Caroline find when they return to their house in Forest Park?

9. What does Caroline remember when she is riding in the police car?

10. What privileges has Caroline earned as she has gotten older?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the symbolic value of the toy horse, Randy, in My Abandonment. Be sure to support your ideas with textual evidence.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that explicates the lesson of the dead deer. In your essay, use details, imagery, and diction from each of the passages that make reference to the deer to explain the literal and figurative significance of the deer. Then make and defend a claim about the significance of these passages to the novel's overall meaning.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that analyzes the life that Caroline has built for herself at the end of My Abandonment. What does this life represent, thematically, when you consider My Abandonment as a coming-of-age novel? Offer textual support to defend your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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