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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. After Carter stops living in the house in Beverly Hills, where does Maria begin to sleep?

2. When Maria visits Kate at the hospital and warns the nurse about Kate's nightmares, what does Maria realize about getting an abortion?

3. According to BZ, what does Larry Kulik have to do to be able to sleep with the young girl at Anita Garson's?

4. What phrase does Helene's friends who are about ten years older than Helene say to one another?

5. How is Maria playing on the lawn with the baby as Carter recalls in the beginning of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Maria do the first month after she and Carter break up and what does it signify?

2. What is the location of Maria's abortion and what does it represent?

3. Where did Maria grow up and why is it significant?

4. What kind of man was Maria's father and what impact did it have on Maria?

5. Who is Benny Austin and what does he represent in the novel?

6. What does Maria do when she moves to New York and why is it significant?

7. In the period before Maria has her abortion, what rituals does she perform in order to induce menstruation and why does she do them?

8. What time does Maria want to be on the freeway and why is it significant?

9. What memory does Carter have of Maria and the baby and what does it reveal about Maria?

10. Why does Carter tell Maria tell Kate that it is not good for her to visit Kate unannounced and what does it reveal about Kate's treatment?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the treatment of women in the novel. What roles are women valued for and why? What is the relationship between equality and power in the ways in which women are treated?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss mental illness as a theme in the novel.

1. How is treatment of mental illness represented in the novel?

2. What is Maria's familial history with mental illness?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the importance of Maria's dreams in the novel. Choose 2 dreams and analyze their significance.

(see the answer keys)

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