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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. The others agree to wait at the motel because

2. David slips in and out of "a yokel dialect," which implies

3. The narrator finds it difficult to enter the lake because

4. The narrator believes she is a successful children's book illustrator because

5. The narrator's attitude toward pain--if it hurts invent a different pain--indicates

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the narrator assume the old town priest is dead?

2. When the narrator discovers that the other campers are Canadian, not American as she had suspected, what new fear grips her.

3. Describe the narrator's relationship with her former lover.

4. What perceptions do her guests have of the town?

5. What is the narrator's occupation?

6. When the narrator reviews old photos she claims to see the missing part of herself. What is the missing part?

7. Describe the narrator's flashback about the birth of her child.

8. How is the narrator changing as she remembers her past?

9. In what time period did the narrator grow up?

10. What is significant about the narrator's description of the herons?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Andrea Dworking said, "Marriage meant the taking [of a woman by force] was to extend in time, to be not only use of but possession of, or ownership." Write an essay in which you defend or refute this statement based on evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Consider the narrator's definition of American. What does it mean to be an American according to the narrator? Who or what in the novel is represented by the term American and why?

Essay Topic 3

The narrator of Atwood's novel struggles with her own humanity, preferring to consider herself an animal. Write an essay in which you define both "human" and "animal" according to the narrator, using the text as support for your argument.

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