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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. Connell has an impulse to take what action when he realizes that the time for asking to stay with Marianne has passed?

2. Connell reflects upon the fact that capturing an experience on paper makes him feel as if he is capturing it inside what object?

3. Who is the first man with whom Marianne has a relationship after her split from Connell?

4. Which one of Marianne's friends throws a party in May of 2012 to celebrate the end of exams?

5. What is the name of the location at which Connell runs into Miss Neary once he is in college?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Connell's impressions of Alan and from whence do these impressions emerge?

2. What happens to prevent Connell from enacting his plan to stay in Dublin over the summer?

3. Describe Helen's impressions of Marianne.

4. How do Connell and Marianne come to meet up in Europe during the summer of 2013?

5. When Connell finds that he will not be able to pay rent over the summer in his Dublin flat, what is his back-up plan?

6. What does Connell find troubling about the financial arrangements among Marianne, Lorraine, and himself?

7. What plans does Marianne make for her third year of college?

8. What does it mean to Connell when he wins the full scholarship to graduate school?

9. By April of 2012, Connell and Marianne have fallen into a certain routine. What is it?

10. What is Marianne's reply when Peggy asks about Marianne's hang-ups?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the interplay between the resolution of Normal People and one of the novel's main messages. How does Rooney make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help them get across one main message of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Sensory details are used frequently by Rooney in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of Normal People. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Rooney’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Rooney's choice to tell the story of Normal People using a third person omniscient narrator. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are Rooney’s intended effects on the reader?

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This section contains 964 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample