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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 does the narrator say she should have studied instead of art?

2. The narrator tells Paul

3. The narrator reports that she is beginning to suspect

4. The narrator decides her childhood was a good one because

5. Who arrives on the island at the start of the chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. What images or ideas related to identity do we get in the beginning of the novel?

2. Describe the narrator's relationship with other children.

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

4. Describe the narrator's initial beliefs about Americans.

5. What does the dead heron represent for the narrator?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

The three settings frequently mentioned in the novel--the city, the town, and the island--all carry different connotations. Considering the connotations of each, write an essay in which you explore the meaning of each setting and its significance to the narrator's development.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the ideas of paths, roads, and travels in Atwood's novel. What do these concrete ideas represent for the narrator, and how do they contribute to Atwood's message?

(see the answer keys)

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