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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are the names of Viorst's three sons?
(a) Tony, John, and Robert
(b) Anthony, Nicholas, and Alexander
(c) Shannon, Scott, and Brian
(d) Michael, William, and Henry

2. In what form of internalization do we take on aspects of those we have loved?
(a) Chameleonization.
(b) Identification.
(c) Personification.
(d) Depression.

3. Simone de Beauvoir once said, "Old age is life's ___________."
(a) Parody.
(b) Cruel joke.
(c) Final act.
(d) Swan song.

4. In Chapter 14, Viorst lists what about her hometown?
(a) The various houses she lived in.
(b) A list of families and their children's tragic choices.
(c) How the different relationships impact the town.
(d) The best places to eat.

5. Parents have trouble seeing their children as what?
(a) Competent humans.
(b) A part of themselves.
(c) Separate people.
(d) Anything but perfect.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are we often unaware of that we bring with us into a marriage?

2. What famous author's memoir entitled Speak, Memory does Viorst reference at the end of Chapter 14?

3. What is the name of the son in Death of a Salesman that Viorst uses as an example of the restricting roles some parents foist on their children?

4. Who was the psychologist who said that marriage requires "a wise balancing of love and hate"?

5. In our middle years, we may seek to reconnect with our _____________.

Short Essay Questions

1. Other than a parent, what other things impact who a child becomes?

2. Viorst describes a sort of "opposites attract" type marriage relationship where each party meets a neurotic need of the other party. What did she call this type of arrangement?

3. According to the book, why are friends so important?

4. What types of unexpected emotions can we feel towards friends? How do they impact our friendships?

5. Name two of the stages of mourning that Viorst describes in Chapter 16.

6. Why does our focus shift in middle age to discovering our family's history?

7. According to the book, when does the way we will handle aging begin?

8. In thinking about losses as a lifelong theme, name some of the juxtapositions that Viorst discusses in Chapter 20.

9. What is the fundamental tension in all man-woman marriages?

10. What can happen as a result of a mother's fear that her child's psyche is fragile? How can this affect the child?

(see the answer keys)

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