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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 want to do after she graduates from high school, as she reveals on page 283?

2. What does Vanessa name the dog she adopts at the end of the novel?

3. How does Vanessa’s mother, Jan, refer to Strane on page 363?

4. According to Vanessa on page 246, she never had a chance to be what?

5. What does Plough want Vanessa to do after graduation?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Strane send Vanessa a packet of documents? Of what is he trying to remind her, as he explains on page 327? What does he want to achieve?

2. Who is Bridget? Describe her relationship with Vanessa.

3. What does Vanessa discover while working in the urology department of her father’s hospital?

4. What happens during the interaction between Strane and Plough?

5. What happens during Vanessa’s conversation with Taylor on page 313?

6. How does the literature in Vanessa’s gothic seminar parallel her real life?

7. What does Strane demand of Vanessa following his interaction with Plough?

8. Who is Craig, and how does Vanessa meet him? What happens between them?

9. How does Strane die? How does he appear to Vanessa?

10. What does Vanessa tell Ruby about the extent of her control over Strane on page 319? What does Ruby say in response?

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

Write an essay defining victimhood from the perspective of Vanessa. What does it mean to be a victim, according to Vanessa? How do the choices she makes reflect these values?

(see the answer keys)

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