View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Maribel meet Schuyler?

2. Who does Joe's high school girlfriend marry after college?

3. Why does Joe's mother send Jack away?

4. After Veronica leaves Joe's apartment, what does he think about?

5. Where did Maribel grow up?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Schuyler's brother, Tad, phone Maribel after Schuyler's death?

2. How does the structure of the novel help readers understand the secrets to happiness?

3. At the beginning of Chapter 2, how can Joe's relationship with his high school girlfriend, Veronica, be described?

4. When Jake and June visit Joe and Nok, and they are about to eat the orchid cake made by Veronica, what task do they do in order to cut the cake?

5. Why do Schuyler and Maribel start crying after hearing the historian give a lecture about nineteenth century working conditions?

6. In Chapter 3, how is the hotel described that Schuyler and the crew stay in?

7. What surprises Joe about Veronica's relationship and marriage to Schuyler, her husband?

8. How does Abby, Gil's first wife, handle the news about her husband's secret?

9. Describe Ethan's childhood. How does he feel about his father traveling often to Asia for work?

10. What originally happens to Schuyler's money after he is killed?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

After discovering Gil's second family, Ethan, his sister, and mother all handle the news quite differently. Explain how each of these characters handles the news in his or her own way, explaining how his or her reaction reveals his or her characterization.

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 1, after discovering the news about her husband's second family, Ethan's mother decides to travel to Thailand to teach English. Ethan explains how in one message from his mother, he noted how her tone shifted from dull and unenthused to happy and wondrous. Analyze the shift in tone in his mother's messages and what it reveals about her finding happiness.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout Secrets of Happiness, each chapter is narrated by a different character's point of view, which lends the novel to myriad voices and perspectives. Write an essay analyzing Joan Silber's choice to structure the novel this way. How do the various points of view affect the plot of the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,012 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample