View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which book referenced in Chapter 14 references the "good mother"?
(a) The Mother Knot by Jane Lazarre
(b) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
(c) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
(d) The World According to Garp by John Irving

2. According to Chapter 13, there can be no human love without what?
(a) A caring parental relationship.
(b) Fear.
(c) Passion and romance.
(d) Ambivalence.

3. According to Chapter 12, growing up involves giving up what illusion?
(a) That the universe revolves around us.
(b) That friendship is infallible.
(c) That our parents are perfect.
(d) That death is inevitable.

4. What does this line from a poem by Longfellow tell us about old age? "Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last, Completed Faust when eighty years were past."
(a) Aging is hard work.
(b) Goethe must have really enjoyed his work.
(c) Faust isn't very good because it was written by an elderly person.
(d) It's never too late.

5. Which recent development does Viorst think is a positive new step toward good death?
(a) The hospice movement.
(b) Doctor assisted death.
(c) Hospital good-byes.
(d) Increased suicides of cancer patients.

Short Answer Questions

1. Men pursue ______________; women yearn for _______________.

2. There are what number of friendships that Viorst labels in Chapter 12?

3. The title of Chapter 12 lists what?

4. Simone de Beauvoir once said, "Old age is life's ___________."

5. What is the "corporate characteristic" that Viorst mentions in Chapter 15?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Freud say about religious thoughts of an afterlife?

4. Viorst suggests two necessary losses in Chapter 14. Name one of them.

5. 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?

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

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

8. What are some of the different types of loss and mourning discussed in Chapter 16? Do we experience them all in the same way?

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

10. According to Freud, is it unusual to have sexual feelings toward friends? How does this impact our friendships with the opposite sex?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 817 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample