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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. How does Strane describe the girl accusing him on page 306?

2. What does Vanessa receive in the mail in the wake of Strane’s death?

3. How does Vanessa spend the summer before her senior year of college?

4. According to Vanessa on page 269, why does she lack relationships outside of Strane?

5. According to Vanessa on page 270, what is the difference between rape and sex?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Jo and how does she get her name?

2. Who is Henry Plough? How does Vanessa compare him to Strane on page 272?

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

4. 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?

5. How does Vanessa feel regarding her impending graduation from college? What does Strane say about it on page 270?

6. How does Vanessa’s relationship with Strane change after her graduation from college? To what can the reader attribute such change?

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

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

9. What does Strane say to Vanessa when he calls her on page 187? How does he sound? How does she react to his call?

10. Where do Vanessa and Jo go together? What are both Vanessa and Jo learning to embrace?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Appearances in My Dark Vanessa can be deceiving. How do appearances differ from reality in this novel? Discuss three characters, objects, or situations and how this idea applies to each.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay explaining the significance of the title of the novel, My Dark Vanessa. How does the title reflect the main characters? How does the title reflect the novel’s themes and conflicts? How does the title’s meaning change over the course of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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