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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 plagues the adult Aimee?

2. What does Laura call Iris's unborn child?

3. What does Laura claim that Winifred thinks is ludicrous?

4. The woman receives a telegram informing her of what?

5. Why does the family go to Avilion?

Short Essay Questions

1. In chapter 12, what is the significance of the yellow curtains?

2. In chapter 13, why does Walter come over to Iris's house?

3. According to the article at the beginning of chapter 12, what are Richard's views about Germany?

4. According to clues in chapter 10, who do you think is the woman's equivalent in Iris's memoir and why?

5. How does the man and woman's story about the blind assassin and the tongueless girl end?

6. According to chapter 13, what pact had Laura made with God?

7. According to chapter 11, how does the adult Aimee feel towards her mother and why?

8. According to chapter 9, why is Laura afraid of her father?

9. At the end of the chapter, Iris hears something outside her window. What does she think it is and what is it really?

10. In chapter 13, what revelation of Iris's sends Laura over the edge?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Iris often reflects on the idea of heaven and hell. At the end of the novel, Iris comes to a conclusion about heaven and hell very similar to the conclusion drawn by the men in the story of the Peach Women of Aa'A. What is this conclusion? Using this conclusion, look at the settings in the story and determine whether these locations are representative of heaven or hell. Also, be sure to examine the significance of gardens and fire in terms of heaven and hell, as well as the implications of literary allusions, such as the importance of the literary roots of Xanadu and Avilion and Iris's name in the context of the passage from the Aeneid Laura leavers for her sister? Be sure to consider ways in which places that appear to be heaven can actually be hell and vice versa.

Essay Topic 2

Though Port Ticonderoga is fictional, it is in many ways instrumental to the story of the Chase sisters' early life. Explain the significance of Port Ticonderoga and its history in relation to the story of the downfall of the Chase family dynasty. In what ways does having a fictional setting add to the novel and in what ways does it detract?

Essay Topic 3

Aimee blames her mother for Laura's death. Iris, too, blames herself for Laura's death, but defends herself by saying she did not choose her actions, but was rather forced into them. Is Iris responsible for Laura's death, and if so, what could she have done to prevent it and if not, why not?

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This section contains 857 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample