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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. After fantasizing about her mother having a fatal heart attack, a woman drove up to her mother's apartment building to find what?
(a) Her mother's upstairs neighbor being loaded into an ambulance.
(b) A fire and fire truck.
(c) Everyone having a block party.
(d) Her mother being loaded into an ambulance.

2. As children, Viorst thinks we test reality with what?
(a) Wishful thinking.
(b) Our pretend play.
(c) Our actions.
(d) Daydreaming.

3. How does the author feel we can move past re-creating what has already happened?
(a) Climb into a time machine and go back.
(b) Mourn the past and move on.
(c) Ignore the past and move on.
(d) Talk to the people in our past.

4. According to Chapter 11, we sometimes fear that our fantasies can do what?
(a) Reveal the sick, depraved person we really are.
(b) Make us mean.
(c) Change us.
(d) Have the power to control reality.

5. De-identification can help siblings feel superior in different ways, but it can also lead to what negative result?
(a) It can impose limitations on our talents and interests.
(b) It can result in negative personality traits such as pride, arrogance, or narcissism.
(c) It can leave one child overshadowed by the other.
(d) It can lead to competition in those different areas.

6. What was the name of the "weird little novel" mentioned by Viorst in Chapter 8?
(a) Confederacy of Dunces.
(b) The Moviegoer.
(c) The Catcher in the Rye.
(d) The Men's Club.

7. Sibling rivalry tends to do what as we get older?
(a) Disappear.
(b) Intensify.
(c) Diminish.
(d) Increase.

8. According to Viorst, siblings destroy our dream of what?
(a) Absolute love.
(b) Living an idyllic life.
(c) Being best friends with our sibling.
(d) Being our mother's favorite.

9. There are _______ unanswered questions about the innate differences between the sexes.
(a) Few.
(b) Fifty.
(c) Flimsy.
(d) Many.

10. What is the name of the philosopher who said, "Man is the being who is capable of becoming guilty and is capable of illuminating his guilt"?
(a) Martin Buber.
(b) Friedrich Nietzsche.
(c) John Locke.
(d) Dallas Willard.

11. During the age of latency, fear, anger, and harsh conscience make it difficult to do what?
(a) Concentrate on school.
(b) Maintain a good relationship with our parents.
(c) Make the break from our parents.
(d) Develop into our own person.

12. Drugs, communing with nature, religious experiences, and meditation are all ways in which people seek to what?
(a) Reach a higher level of awareness.
(b) Bridge the loss of oneness with our mother.
(c) Escape from the stress of everyday life.
(d) Fit in and find acceptance with others.

13. What Christmas gift caused Brooke Hayward so much anguish when asked if her little sister could play with it?
(a) A bike.
(b) A pair of roller skates.
(c) A dollhouse.
(d) A set of artist's paints.

14. When a mother rejects a child's need for dependence and pushes them out of the nest too soon, what can happen?
(a) We crash to the ground.
(b) We scream, or cry, or get angry.
(c) We grow amazingly strong wings.
(d) We adapt, or crumple, or compromise.

15. At what age do we develop the superego?
(a) Twenty-five.
(b) Five.
(c) Eighteen.
(d) Thirteen.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the anecdote about the holy man painting a portrait for a king, who ends up being revealed in the painting?

2. According to psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, immature love follows what principle?

3. Viorst feels that there is a always a grain of what in our love relationships?

4. What was the name of the girl's club that Viorst's neighbor Amy belonged to?

5. How does Viorst describe the first loss we experience as humans?

(see the answer keys)

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