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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the narrator's plan at the start of the chapter?

2. As the narrator considers her predicament, she decides that perhaps the searchers

3. The narrator compares Anna to

4. The narrator decides her mother's gift for her is

5. The narrator seduces Joe because

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 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 3

Consider the Canadian wilderness in Margaret Atwood's Surfacing. How does the wilderness represent the narrator's a) past, b) struggles or c) both. Create an argument in which you support points a, b, or c.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 328 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample