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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. _____________ is a woman who simply picked up and moved to Florida because she heard the rents were better than New Jersey.

2. According tot he ACLU, the process of drug testing ___________ improve the chances of screening out addicts.

3. What is the made-up name for the apartments that Barbara finally finds in Minnesota?

4. Working class people are driven to live in ____________ since rents are so high in the areas where they work.

5. Ruthie decides to pour _____________ on Barbara's breakfast and jokes again and again that Barbara should be called Barbara Bush.

Short Essay Questions

1. When Barbara goes back to Wal-Mart in order to fill out a new test, what happens when she gets a few wrong?

2. What is the story of Caroline, the women Barbara uses as a guide to her own difficult situation in Minneapolis?

3. What comes in the emergency food package that Barbara eventually gets from the Community Emergency Assistance Program?

4. Why does the author decide to go to Maine for her next working assignment?

5. What does the author admit to doing which is making her a little nervous about the drug test she needs to take?

6. What is the second job that the author takes on in addition to the maid job in Maine?

7. What is Barbara's living arrangement when she first gets into town in Minneapolis?

8. Why so the Maids think that the job they are offering is easy for someone to learn and to do?

9. What is the one line of work that Barbara does not even apply for since she does not have the proper clothing?

10. What are the titles that Wal-Mart wants its employees to think of themselves as?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

It seems that most of the places where Barbara worked didn't want to give employees any time off or any breaks.

Part 1: Why do you think the places of employment were unwilling to give breaks to the workers?

Part 2: What do you think may have happened to morale and productivity if the employees had been allowed to take breaks?

Part 3: Why do you think breaks are necessary within the course of a working shift?

Essay Topic 2

The author herself is white and someone who is certainly in the middle class, even if she's not working as though she was.

Part 1: In what ways might her 'white-ness' have affected the way her experience turned out?

Part 2: In what ways might her experience have been different had she been a man?

Part 3: In what ways might her experience have been different had she been of a different class or race?

Essay Topic 3

The idea of poverty is one of the most complex issues this world seems to be unable and often unwilling to tackle.

Part 1: How do you define the idea of poverty? Can there be only one definition? Why or why not?

Part 2: Why do you think poverty is so hard for governments to manage?

Part 3: Why do you think people slide into poverty and poverty-conditions?

(see the answer keys)

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