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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 author's maternal grandmother was half old ____ and and half French-Swiss.

2. According to the author, about how old is the the Chapel of St. John?

3. What color was the house the author and his family lived in on the island, in a town called Paget?

4. In Part Two, the author describes his memory of the color of the shallows in the Gulf Stream on the island as ___.

5. At theological seminary who became the author's father and brother in Christ?

Short Essay Questions

1. When do Dudley Knott and the author become friends?

2. What does the author describe about the Tower of London?

3. How do our other selves develop as explained in Part Two of "Telling Secrets?"

4. What did the author expect in a Harvard teaching experience that he did not get when he actually taught at Harvard Divinity School?

5. Why did the author like having Dudley Knott as a friend?

6. What events from the author's life most fit the title for Part Two of "Telling Secrets?"

7. What differences did the author write about among Union students as well as what they all shared?

8. What dream did the author have about a hotel?

9. How did the author's kids connect him with the outside world when they were small?

10. Who goes to Bermuda with the author when he is a child and how does he describe their arrival in Bermuda?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author, in Part One, talks about loving self like you love a neighbor, also expounding on the love of God. Discuss how this information ties in with the authors warning about bleeding hearts; how he came to feel again the hush of God; and how he realized as his daughter healed, he needed healing himself because he had been "huddled" in a dark stable of his own making.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

In Part One of the book, the author spends a few pages talking about memory. How does memory relate to the past? To healing? Why does the author make these distinctions about the past, about memory, about healing? How does memory function in relation to the past, the present and the future? How or can the past, present, and future be altered by memory? How did the author incorporate these factors into "The Wizard's Tide?"

(see the answer keys)

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