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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 unusual about the structure where Father and Caroline meet Susan?

2. What has Caroline built in the forest in Part Eight?

3. Why is Caroline confused on her walk to her old house?

4. What is surprising about the way Susan and Paul are dressed?

5. What animal do Caroline's neighbors raise in Part Eight?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Father and Caroline do once they reach Sisters?

2. What do Father and Caroline do when traveling by train does not work out?

3. What does the reader learn has happened to one of Caroline's toes?

4. How do Caroline's purchases in Boise foreshadow her plans?

5. In what sense are Susan and Father similar?

6. When Caroline is finally alone in the cave, watching the fire, what does she finally allow herself to think about?

7. What habit does Caroline have in Part Eight that echoes Father's abduction of her?

8. What happens during Caroline's encounter with the two sisters in the mall bathroom?

9. When they are on the bus, what important message does Caroline try to tell Father, and how does he react?

10. What education has Caroline received since returning to Oregon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that examines the physical closeness of Father and Caroline. Read carefully the passages about their sleeping and showering practices, Caroline's feelings about how her body is changing, her interest in the young couple she sees on the water tower, and so on. Use evidence from these passages to make and defend a claim about the nature of Father and Caroline's physical closeness and its impacts on Caroline.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that analyzes the significance of the blue ribbon that Caroline carries. Consider its provenance, what Caroline does with it, and how it deteriorates over the years as a part of your exploration of this symbol.

(see the answer keys)

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