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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 is Mrs. Armstrong's first name?
2. The narrator states that "the Herdmans started out mean, right from" (59) what?
3. What is Alice's reply when Mother asks her the reason for her behavior during the choosing of parts?
4. At the end of Mother's story to Father about the first pageant rehearsal, what conclusion does she draw about the Herdman siblings?
5. When the narrator describes how many people in town end up attending the pageant overall, for what purpose does she say those people attend?
Short Essay Questions
1. What behaviors of the Herdman siblings indicate their keen interest in the subject of the Christmas story?
2. Discuss how the theme of appearance versus reality appears in Chapter Five.
3. For what reasons does the pageant not have a real baby to play Jesus?
4. What event causes the narrator to consider what the world would be like if Jesus had not lived past infancy?
5. In what ways does the author depict Father as a funny man?
6. Discuss the significance of Mother's comment when she states to Father, "No, their chief instinct was to get Mary and the baby out of the barn. But even so, it was Herod they wanted to do away with, and Mary or Joseph. They picked out the right villain -- that must mean something" (50).
7. What questions are raised in the narrator's mind about the Nativity story as a result of her interactions with the Herdmans?
8. Discuss a moment in the narrative when the narrator thinks that her friend Alice is behaving badly.
9. How does the narrator's interaction with the Herdmans change the narrator's perspective of the Christmas story?
10. How does the narrator portray her friend Alice's personification of Mrs. Armstrong's saying, "There are no parts, only small actors" (21)?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Sensory details are used frequently within Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author affect the characterization present within each of the three scenes.
Essay Topic 2
William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.
Essay Topic 3
Analyze Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest holds the most meaning and why?
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This section contains 1,724 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) |
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