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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 narrator describes the lake as

2. At the gas station, the narrator is embarrassed when her friends

3. The narrator reports that she is beginning to suspect

4. What burdensome object has David insisted on bringing in the canoe?

5. The narrator finally tells Anna

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator plan to survive without the cabin and the food from the garden.

2. Describe the experience the narrator has with her mother.

3. Why does the narrator believe there are rules for what she can and cannot do on the island?

4. What does the narrator decide about being a victim?

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

6. Why does Joe's marriage proposal remind the narrator of her first wedding day?

7. Why is the narrator bothered by the new road, and the ease with which she is able to arrive at her destination?

8. The narrator says that living on the island felt "normal" to her, which suggests what about her personality?

9. What childhood memory interrupts the narrator's feeling of complicity in the heron's death?

10. What attitude does the narrator express about the emotions of others?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The lake features prominently in Atwood's story. What associations or connotations does the narrator give the lake? How has the lake played an important role in her life and the lives of her family members?

Essay Topic 2

Nietzsche said, "A man who has depths in his shame meets his destiny and his delicate decisions upon paths which few ever reach . . . ." Consider the narrator's discussion of paths throughout the novel and then defend, refute, or qualify Nietzsche's statement using examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the following quote by Rainer Maria Rilke: "Just as language has no longer anything in common with the thing it names, so the movements of most of the people who live in cities have lost their connection with the earth; they hang, as it were, in the air, hover in all directions, and find no place where they can settle." Write an essay in which you defend, refute, or qualify Rilke's statement, using Atwood's novel as the basis for your argument.

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