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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 are the names of Ebbett's sons?

2. What does Angus demand Ruth do in Chapter 4?

3. Where does Ruth go to live in Chapter 2?

4. What does Simon search for at Potter Beach when he is 73?

5. When was Ruth's grandmother adopted?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ruth flee to Rhonda's in Chapter 5? What is Rhonda doing when Ruth arrives?

2. How do mother and daughter greet one another in Chapter 5?

3. What does Ruth think of Angus?

4. What do Ruth, Cal and Toby talk about while on the New Hope in Chapter 5?

5. Who is Jane? What does the reader learn of Jane's past in Chapter 4?

6. Who dies in Chapter 1? How does this death impact the other characters?

7. Describe Ruth's childhood as described in Chapter 1.

8. Who are the members of Ebbett's family?

9. Why is Ruth sent to Delaware? How does she feel about this move?

10. Who is Cal Cooley?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What marriages are examined in the novel? What causes the end of Stan's and Mary's marriage? How had the Ellis' felt about their marriage in the first place? Who had Rhonda wanted Ruth to marry and why?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the urban versus rural theme of the novel. How does Gilbert illustrate this theme? How does this theme relate to other themes and motifs of the novel? How are the urban settings depicted? How are the rural settings depicted?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze and interpret the protagonist of the novel. Ruth Thomas. What are her defining character traits? What is most important to her and why? What important events take place during her life?

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