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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. What does Jean usually do to the Brillo pad monkey in the collage at Elsie's when she plays with it?

2. How does pastor Finch, the visiting pastor, make Jean feel?

3. How does Jean's mother refer to their neighbors?

4. How does Melanie end up coming to a church service at Jean's church?

5. How does Jean get a job washing glasses at Tricketts?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the story of the sensitive princess?

2. What does the headmistress call Jean into her office for? Why? What is Jean's response?

3. What happened in sewing class when the class worked on cross stitching projects?

4. Explain why this statement is relevant to Jean's predicament at school: "What constitutes a problem is not the thing, or the environment where we find the thing, but the conjunction of the two."

5. What are some things Jean's mother did for the Society for the Lost? Was she effective?

6. Who does Jean eventually get a Saturday job from? What does she do?

7. How did Jean's mother get started with the Society for the Lost?

8. Why don't Melanie and Jean think that what they share is what the pastor labels as "unnatural passion"?

9. What kinds of stories does Jean's mother tell her while the walk on Sundays? Give some examples.

10. In an attempt to fit in at school, what does Jean change about her art projects? How does that go?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author frequently uses stories, often ones that sound like parables, to make her points in her story.

Part 1. Give some examples of some stories she tells to enhance an aspect of her story.

Part 2. Analyze the story she tells in reference to her story. What does it mean? What is she adding to her narrative?

Part 3. In your mind, how effective is this tool in her story telling?

Essay Topic 2

In the novel Jean spends the better part of a chapter trying to understand men.

Part 1. Describe the techniques the young Jean employs to get information.

Part 2. What information does Jean gather, and what surmises does she make from it?

Part 3. Jean was clearly suffering from a lack of quality, clear information given to her. What role should her parents and/or teachers and pastors have played in her understanding, or is such confusion a natural part of the process?

Essay Topic 3

The author uses parables throughout her story in ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT. Write a parable for your own story.

Part 1. Give us the general situation of a time in your life when you were going through something you would like to represent through a story.

Part 2. Create and tell the story that will shed understanding or light onto your situation for the reader.

Part 3. Explain your story and how it relates to your situation in life. Do you think your story was effective in adding depth or meaning to the description of your situation?

(see the answer keys)

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