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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. Who does Ellen say comes to visit?

2. Who is decorating the tree next to Kate's?

3. Where is the lunch held after Kate's funeral?

4. What does Ellen buy hoping her mother will continue to read?

5. Why does Ellen say she buys flowers?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the scene in which George is feeding Kate rice pudding. What does Ellen believe is happening?

2. What is Ellen doing that causes the newspaper stories to say that Ellen was "fleeing?"

3. Describe some of the reactions to Ellen's arrest.

4. What is Jon's role in Ellen's arrest?

5. What are Ellen's theories about why Mrs. Duane and Kate don't talk about men while they're having lunch together?

6. What is Ellen's reaction when Jeff makes fun of her for baking cookies and why does she react this way?

7. Where does Jeff get the money for Ellen's legal defense?

8. What does Teresa say when Ellen asks if she's curious as to why George is never home?

9. What is the memory Ellen has about a tree lighting event the first year her mother was one of the Minnies?

10. What does Ellen do when she and Jeff go to the cemetery?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the most important scene in the book? Why? Why is that scene effective? Which is more important to that scene: the action or the setting? Why?

Essay Topic 2

What do you consider to be the main theme of this story? List at least three examples of this theme, and explain why it is important.

Essay Topic 3

Ellen and her mother are, in many ways, opposites. Compare the characters and Ellen and Kate. What are their most striking differences? Similarities? How and why do their characters change over the course of the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 757 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample