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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 renders distinctions between past, present and future meaningless, according to the author?

2. What condition made it almost impossible for the author's mom to walk during her last year of life?

3. Three acts of God mentioned by the author that appear in scripture are the Exodus, the ___, and the entry into the Promised Land.

4. What was the make of the family car used for the 1936 suicide?

5. In what language is the dedication written in "Godric?"

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author describe God loving us, and loving his daughter?

2. Describe the author's mother's bedroom in her 79th street apartment.

3. How did the author's mother's aging affect her sons' lives?

4. How does the author describe his father's suicide?

5. Why did the author's mother have so few friends as she got older?

6. According to the author, how does memory help us finish with the past?

7. What illness did the author's daughter have and how did it affect her?

8. How did author's mom respond to his fictionalized version of his father's death and how did her reaction to this fist telling affect the author's writing about the death later?

9. How did the daughter being sick affect the author?

10. How is the author's story, our story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the Introduction, the author writes that 1) telling secrets makes it easier to see where we have been and where we are going; 2) it makes it easier for others to share their secrets; and 3) that exchanges like this is what being a family, and being human is all about. Using details from Part One, Part Two and Part Three of the book, provide details from the authors life experiences that support each of the three statements (1,2 3) above?

Essay Topic 2

The author taught on the east coast and in the mid-west. Explain his thoughts about each experience, using details from the book. Also, identify the major differences that existed between the two in regards to religious discussions, and the students he taught; and how these differences contributed to the author's experiences.

Essay Topic 3

The author's mother is quoted in Part One of the book as saying, "If I didn't have something to look for, I would be lost." Answer either A or B.

A. Why does she make this statement? Discuss the significance of the mother losing her beauty and trying to find it daily with her make-up and other enhancements, in relation to her state of mind, her health, and her relationship with her sons and her caregivers/friends.

B. Why does the author describe the statement as one of his mother's "most shimmering utterances?" How does this theme of "lost and found" play out throughout the details of the author's life described in the book - his family (mom and brother, wife and kids), friends, students?

(see the answer keys)

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