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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 the middle of the 19th century, how old was the English officer who was ordered to organize the building of a road from Colombo to Kandy?

2. What was the name of the last estate that Michael and his siblings lived on as children?

3. What was Mervyn's rank in the Ceylon Light Infantry when Michael was born?

4. How old was Lalla when she received a small inheritance?

5. When Michael went back to Ceylon and the tea estate, how many years had it been since his mother had been to the tea estate?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was it thought that Rene de Saram's husband was the victim of someone's charm?

2. What did Doris do when she was leaving Mervyn and he threw the car key into the tea bushes?

3. How did Mervyn deter Lalla from ravaging the garden at Kuttapitiya?

4. What did Doris coach the three older children to do when Mervyn lapsed into one of his alcoholic states?

5. Why did Lalla come to Kuttapitiya when Michael and his family lived there?

6. What did Rene de Saram do when one of her cows caught Rinderpest fever?

7. How did Lalla die?

8. What did a fortune-teller predict when Doris left Ceylon in 1949?

9. What happened to the eggs that Willie Gratiaen imported from Australia?

10. Where did Doris work after the divorce?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the elements of the poem, "Sweet Like a Crow," including the type of language, imagery, and figurative devices used by the poet.

Essay Topic 2

Lalla and Rene de Saram were friends who were neighbors and became widows. Compare Lalla and Rene.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Michael's purpose for writing "Running in the Family" and whether he achieved his purpose.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 733 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample