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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 the plaque at Vel d'Hiv' tell passersby?

2. How is the family transported away from their neighborhood?

3. What does the father do when the girl and her mother are leaving?

4. What do the police take from the women at Beaune-la-Rolande?

5. How does the girl spend her time at the new location?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the opening scene of "Sarah's Key".

2. What is the larger context for the story, and how does the story clue us in to that larger context?

3. What kind of writing does Julia do?

4. What happens when the girl and her parents arrive at Beaune-la-Rolande?

5. What do the girl and her mother take with them when they leave their home?

6. When and where does "Sarah's Key" take place?

7. What lead does Julia get for gathering more information about Vel d'Hiv' during her trip there?

8. Describe Julia Jaramond's relationship with her husband.

9. Describe the girl and her parents' departure for Beaune-la-Rolande.

10. Describe the conditions at Beaune-la-Rolande.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Julia is dismayed by the ignorance surrounding Drancy and Vel d'Hiv', and she finds small plaques commemorating what took place there, but mostly she finds that people have moved on, and either do not remember or do not care about the past. What do you think is an appropriate form of memorializing the events of the roundup and the Holocaust? When is it appropriate for a place to 'move on' and when is it appropriate that should time remain stopped at the moment of the atrocities?

Essay Topic 2

Would you recommend "Sarah's Key"? For what purposes would you recommend "Sarah's Key", and what kinds of readers would you not recommend it? What book would you recommend that would cover the same material or provide the same emotional experience in a different way?

Essay Topic 3

In what way is "Sarah's Key" an allegorical novel? What does Julia's baby symbolize? What other symbols give "Sarah's Key" a deeper meaning than the literal? How does the novel teach a moral, or resolve a symbolic problem?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 831 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample