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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. In Chicago, Clare's husband

2. What is the trait of Clare's that gossipers have mentioned to Irene?

3. Helga chooses to remain

4. Clare now sees that if her marriage breaks,

5. What happened to Clare's father?

Short Essay Questions

1. During a period while Clare is gone, is there peace in the Redfield home? Why, or why not?

2. How did her religion help Helga through difficult times?

3. After two years pass, Clare again wants to become involved in Irene's life. Is Irene's reaction negative or positive? Explain her reaction.

4. What is the burden that these characters carry with them throughout the story?

5. What is the author's intention when she puts the two women together in the hotel restaurant scene? What conclusions can we draw from Irene's memory of that day?

6. What is odd about the initial meeting among Irene, Gertrude and Clare? Are these conversations typical among women friends? What, if anything, makes the visit among the three women unusual?

7. What is your initial assessment of Clare Kendry? Do we know enough about her in these first two chapters to draw any conclusions about her? If so, what would they be?

8. What role, if any, does Clare's husband play in the story so far? Is he a comforting presence? Why, or why not? Is he a likable character?

9. Discuss how giving birth to her fourth child seems to be Helga's breaking point. Why does this happen? What does the death of her infant symbolize?

10. Hugh Wentworth, the white author, comes back into the story during the afternoon tea scene. What is Wentworth's role? Is he a true friend to Irene? To Clare?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who made up high society in the black population in New York in the 1920s? What did these people do for a living? From where did their money come? Focus on three examples of historical figures and discuss their occupations and lifestyles.

Essay Topic 2

What are the most outstanding differences in Helga Crane's presentation of herself in Denmark and in New York? Write about her transition from one facade to the other, and what she brought from one culture to the other. Did she blend in within any of the societal structures in which she chose to live? Why, or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Is there really such a place as Naxos? If not, trace the history of the first schools in the south that were strictly designed for African American students. Were they designed to uplift the black race, or to teach assimilation?Were they comparable to Naxos in terms of their goals and objectives? If so, in what ways?

(see the answer keys)

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