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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. Where else in the world did the narrator get the same feeling she had when looking at L's paintings?

2. Who does the narrator say appears to be free, which "doesn't look like much" (8)?

3. Why does the narrator say nothing as she watches an old man fondle a little girl on the train?

4. What type of painting by L was the narrator drawn to that morning in Paris?

5. What was the only request Tony made regarding M's appearance?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is M's impression of Brett when she first meets her?

2. What did Tony find after clearing the adjacent land he bought near the marsh? What did he do there?

3. How does L behave at the harbor town when M and Tony first meet him?

4. What do readers learn of L's backstory in the fourth chapter?

5. Whose portrait did L tell M he wanted to paint? How did she feel that he did not wish to paint her? What did she say to him about this?

6. What do readers learn about Tony's backstory in the third chapter?

7. What does the narrator say her first experience with L coincided with? What did she think L's visit would do in terms of her recovery?

8. In what ways did L and Tony's early experiences with death manifest differently in each man?

9. What does Tony say to M when she gets angry with him after L says he is not staying with them?

10. What does the narrator feel L's painting emanated when she first saw them that morning in Paris, which compelled her to follow it to the art gallery?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Several times in the novel, M refers to a time after taking a train from Paris that her life spun downward. What do you think happened based on the details she provides in the story?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing narrative voice in Cusk of Second Place. Include thoughts on how the narrative voice of the story is effective in conveying the story’s themes.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss elements of the narrative structure: Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the novel's themes?

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