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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. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, whom does Deborah say she met on the other side of the train?

2. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, where does Deborah say her mother was from?

3. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, what does Deborah recall her mother saying she wanted after her death?

4. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say a woman wears?

5. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Blueish Darkness, what does Deborah say her mother worked as?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, what are the two quotes that Deborah cites at the end of the chapter? How do they apply to her marriage?

2. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, where does Deborah say her mother grew up? What did her mother teach her in old age?

3. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say she told Clara about dating again? How does she say Clara responded?

4. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, what does Deborah say her friend told her about her husband? What did Deborah muse about this?

5. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Bluish Darkness, what does Deborah say her new life was about? Why does she say this?

6. In Chapter Eight: The Republic, where does Deborah say she saw the word "winterized"? How did she apply this to herself?

7. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, who does Deborah say were her companions on the train? How does she say they interacted?

8. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Bluish Darkness, what does Deborah say she needed to compose? How does she apply this as a metaphor?

9. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, who does Deborah say appeared in her house? Why does Debrah say she was wary seeing her?

10. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, where does Deborah say she went and why? What does she say this reminded her of?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read the short story, the Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the autobiography, there are several instances of wallpaper discussed. First, Deborah has a problem with her walls being painted yellow, then she references the short story, by Gilman. Alongside the metaphor of the Family Home being taken apart, Deborah also talks about her writing student having, "torn the wallpaper off the walls of her family house and slipped her hand inside the naked bricks for something she knew was there" (71).

After reading Gilman's short story (it is 10 pages), write on what is happening. How does Deborah transform Gilman's metaphor into her lived reality? How is it similar or different how Deborah applies this metaphor for her own use to how she sees it in her student? How does the continued metaphor reflect the evolving struggles that a woman feels trying to be herself? (consider how Gilman uses the wallpaper and what her character experiences versus Deborah, her student, and other women you may want to bring into the conversation, such as Deborah's mother).

Essay Topic 2

Levvy says: "I was more interested in a major unwritten female character" (123).

Does the autobiography write this female character? If so, what does it write? If not, where does it fall short? How are Deborah and the other women in the book either this unwritten female character or different variations of her? How, according to the book, does it become possible to write the unwritten?

Essay Topic 3

Deborah and Clara compare their lives to their mothers' lives in generations past where women stayed at home and had children. Deborah compares herself to other women past, such as Simon de Beauvoir. How do these different women fight for their freedoms within the constraints of their societies? How do they negotiate freedom, and what cost do they pay for the freedoms they have? Choose at least five women in the autobiography to compare and align for this paper.

(see the answer keys)

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