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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. According to Vanessa on page 260, why is what Strane did to her not a crime?

2. Who contacts Vanessa in the spring of 2002?

3. How does Plough describe Vanessa on page 350?

4. According to Strane on page 304, what is the only thing he did to the girl accusing him?

5. According to Vanessa on page 270, she has become a voracious consumer of what type of stories?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Strane react to his encounter with Plough? How does Vanessa react to it?

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

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

5. How does Jo keep Vanessa in the present moment, as explained on page 369?

6. How is Vanessa’s mother haunted by the past, as revealed by Jan Wye on page 363?

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

8. What does Janine tell Vanessa on page 232, and how does Vanessa feel about Janine’s choice of words?

9. What does Vanessa learn from Jenny in the spring of 2002?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

What is the role of technology in the novel? How does technology impact My Dark Vanessa’s characters, plot, and themes?

Essay Topic 3

The characters in My Dark Vanessa all highlight the idea the past is never truly past. Choose three characters and explain how each illustrates this idea, using textual evidence to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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