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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 Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say Clara recommended for Deborah's water?

2. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, what does Deborah say we expect our mothers to do?

3. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say Clara offered her?

4. In Chapter Nine: Night Wandering, what background does Deborah say her mother had come from?

5. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Blueish Darkness, what does Deborah say the brothers gave her?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In Chapter Seven: The Black and Bluish Darkness, what meeting does Deborah say she went to? How did she feel at the meeting?

3. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what does Deborah say Clara thought of Deborah's life? What does Deborah say she thought of this?

4. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, what of Deborah's old house items does she say Clara picked up, and what does Clara say about them? What metaphor does she say Clara apply to this?

5. In Chapter Ten: X is Where I Am, how does Deborah say she felt after her mother's death? What did she ride instead of an e-bike?

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

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

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

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

10. In Chapter Eleven: Footsteps in the House, how do footsteps factor into the chapter? What do they symbolically represent?

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

Each of the chapters of Cost of Living has distinct titles, and each of these titles are tied together in segments of two or three themes throughout. Choose one of these segments of two or three chapters and examine how the titles are woven together, and how the titles reflect the content of the chapters. Connect what you find about the symbolism and the metaphor to the message of the book.

Essay Topic 3

At the end of Chapter Twelve: The Beginning of Everything, Deborah says:

"The fog had not yet lifted, but I could see a plump cockatoo perched in the middle of the line. It had raised its crested head and was shaking itself from the core of its being. A fine white powder fell from the depth of its feathers and fell like salt at its feet" (126).

Think of the symbolism of birds throughout the book. What do you think the end of this chapter represents, for Deborah, and for the autobiography where it is placed? Write a paper about the metaphor of birds throughout for Deborah and this changing time in her life, and include this image as one of the three to five instances of bird symbolism throughout.

(see the answer keys)

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