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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. Which of Strane’s classes is Vanessa taking during her sophomore year of high school?

2. What does Vanessa do to the email she receives from Janine Bailey on page 144?

3. What does Vanessa tell her ex-boyfriend about the allegations against Strane?

4. What word is used in the newspaper article on page 148 to describe how Strane prepared his victims?

5. What strikes Vanessa about Strane’s appearance on page 54?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Strane come to see Vanessa on page 54? What does Vanessa experience psychologically on page 56?

2. Who is Ira and what opinion does he have about Vanessa, as explained on page 50?

3. What early interactions between Vanessa and Strane suggest that he is grooming her for abuse? What is the effect of these actions on Vanessa?

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

5. What does Vanessa tell her mother about Jacob on page 135, and how does her mother respond?

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

7. What object does Vanessa’s mother discover that confirms the nature of Vanessa’s relationship with Strane? How does her mother react?

8. Who is Taylor Birch and what does she post to Facebook, as Vanessa discovers at the opening of the novel?

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

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

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 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing how the author uses characters and behaviors to develop and strengthen the murky issue of consent.

(see the answer keys)

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