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. How long after the protagonist’s mother died did her father die?

2. To what kind of athlete does the protagonist compare the Kid?

3. How old is the protagonist when her mother dies?

4. Which of the following, per the novel, is a type of quark?

5. Per the novel, how large a percentage of the population of mathematicians is Jewish?

Short Essay Questions

1. What attitude does the protagonist report her father had toward the use of atomic weapons in World War II?

2. Why did the protagonist’s father hide his first marriage?

3. How does the protagonist explain Grothendieck’s activism?

4. What vice does the protagonist admit to having?

5. How does the protagonist explain her affinity for mental health inpatients?

6. What vices does the protagonist deny having?

7. What work did the protagonist’s father do after the use of atomic weapons in World War II?

8. What does the protagonist cite as the incident inciting her seeking admission at Stella Maris?

9. Why does the protagonist note having reacted badly to her childhood ophthalmologist?

10. What reason is given for Grothendieck leaving the IHES?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what genre other than psychological fiction might Stella Maris be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the significance of the novel’s title.

Essay Topic 3

To what other writer’s work in your experience does McCarthy’s seem most similar? What makes the writers similar? What differentiates them? Overall, which do you regard as doing better at the craft of writing, and why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 506 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample