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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. Mrs. Wendleken uses what adjective to describe Mother's decision to allow a Herdman to play the role of Mary?
2. How often does Mrs. Armstrong call the narrator's mother from her hospital bed?
3. What reason does Charlie's friend Hobie say he cannot be a shepherd?
4. What do the Herdman siblings do once the fire department arrives at the church?
5. How does Mother feel about Mrs. Armstrong's announcement that she does not know how the pageant will turn out?
Short Essay Questions
1. 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).
2. What questions are raised in the narrator's mind about the Nativity story as a result of her interactions with the Herdmans?
3. In what way does Reverend Hopkins redirect his congregation when he notices their treatment of the Herdman siblings?
4. What connections does the author draw between the Herdmans and the Holy Family?
5. What evidence does the author provide for the conclusion that having the first meeting about the pageant after church is a poor decision?
6. In what ways does Mother display the qualities of fortitude and perseverance?
7. How is irony used within the depiction of the cigar-smoking incident in the church restroom?
8. How does the narrator portray her friend Alice's personification of Mrs. Armstrong's saying, "There are no parts, only small actors" (21)?
9. Discuss how the theme of appearance versus reality appears in Chapter Five.
10. What message is being sent about arrogance within Mother's exclamation when she shouts, "That woman! She must be surprised that the sun is still coming up every morning without her to supervise the sunrise" (45)?
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
Discuss the instances of irony within the narrative of Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and analyze the author's purpose for including each instance you discuss.
Essay Topic 3
Discuss the author's choice to tell the story of Barbara Robinson’s novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever using the first person point-of-view. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are the author's intended and invoked effects on the reader?
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This section contains 1,645 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) |
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