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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 Vanessa tell her ex-boyfriend about the allegations against Strane?

2. How does Strane describe Vanessa’s poetry on page 44?

3. What club does Vanessa join during her sophomore year of high school?

4. Where does Vanessa meet Strane on page 54?

5. According to Strane on page 140, what exists inside of both him and Vanessa?

Short Essay Questions

1. What odd request does Strane make a Vanessa on page 133? How does she respond?

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

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

4. Why does Ms. Thompson email Strane? How does Vanessa discover this email?

5. According to Strane following Vanessa’s conversation with Jenny, what would happen to Vanessa if anyone found out about their affair?

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

7. Whose poetry does Strane give Vanessa to read while she is still his student? What is the effect of this poetry on Vanessa?

8. What club does Vanessa join? Why? Whom does she meet there?

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

10. What strange gift does Strane give to Vanessa when she first goes to visit him at his house?

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

Vanessa finds herself involved in several conflicts over the course of the novel. Choose one instance of internal conflict and one instance of external conflict, and explain how these conflicts have an impact on the novel and on the other characters.

Essay Topic 3

The role of power is a major theme of My Dark Vanessa. Choose three situations in which this theme is illustrated. Explain how each situation illustrates the theme of power, and evaluate what the author is trying to say about this subject.

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