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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. How far was the car from the house when it stalled?

2. How old was Lalla when she became a widow?

3. What type of bushes were outside the dining room doors at the tea estate?

4. Who was David Grenier's wife?

5. During the rainy season, how many hours a day would it rain at the tea estate?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where did Doris work after the divorce?

2. Why was Mervyn banned from the Ceylon Railroads after 1943?

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

4. When Mervyn was in his twenties, why did he stop a train ten miles out of Colombo?

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

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

7. Why couldn't Mervyn stand Lalla?

8. How did Lalla die?

9. What was Michael's mother doing when David Grenier drowned?

10. What did Lalla do when Shelton de Saram broke their engagement?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how and why Michael decided to visit Ceylon.

Essay Topic 3

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 773 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample