View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Vanessa text Strane on page 59?

2. According to Strane on page 178, what is the only way for Vanessa to have a successful future?

3. What is Strane unable to handle, as he explains on page 140?

4. How many students have signed a list stating they are aware of the affair between Strane and Vanessa?

5. According to Vanessa on page 5, how did Strane once refer to a teenage Vanessa?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who writes a letter to the board regarding the relationship between Vanessa and Strane? What is the initial result of this letter?

2. What happens during the field trip to see Andrew Wyeth’s home? Who witnesses this interaction?

3. According to Strane on page 4, why might he be found guilty of assault?

4. What procedure does Strane reveal he has had on page 102, and why does he reveal this information?

5. Who speaks with Vanessa during the field trip to Quebec and what does this person tell her?

6. Who is Jenny and what does the reader learn about her (and subsequently about Vanessa) on page 12?

7. What indications are given to the reader that illustrate Vanessa’s lack of agency during her first sexual encounter?

8. How does Strane begin laying the groundwork for predatory behavior in the very first class Vanessa has with him?

9. What happens at the Halloween dance on page 62?

10. Who testifies to Mrs. Giles that Strane and Vanessa have been having an affair? How does Vanessa respond?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Strane and Plough. How does each treat Vanessa, and how does Vanessa treat each? To what can the reader attribute such behavior? Support your answers with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

As the old saying goes, “Time heals all wounds.” Does the novel support this adage, or does it prove the opposite? Answer, using textual evidence to support your claims?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the author’s choice to tell this story by using the first-person perspective. How does viewing the action through a first-person perspective affect the story? How would the novel change if the story was told through the third person?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 831 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample