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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 ailment does Mae Mobley suffer when Aibileen first begins to care for her?

2. What point of view is used in this novel?

3. Who does Skeeter mail the chapter with Aibileen's story to in chapter 12?

4. How long have Hilly, Skeeter, and Elizabeth been friends?

5. What is Skeeter doing when she runs into Hilly Holbrook and Elizabeth Leefolt in chapter 15?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Skeeter begin visiting Aibileen at Mrs. Leefolt's house? What does Skeeter talk to Aibileen about?

2. Who does Aibileen go to work for at the beginning of the novel? What happened just a few months before she accepted this job?

3. Who is killed blocks from Aibileen's home? What is the aftermath of this death?

4. What letter does Skeeter receive in chapter 6 that inspires her to begin searching for a writing job and to find unique topics to write about?

5. What does Hilly Holbrook ask Aibileen that she feels she must answer honestly for Mae Mobley's sake? Why does Hilly ask this question of Aibileen?

6. Why does Aibileen begin telling Mae Mobley she is a smart, kind girl?

7. In chapter 10, Celia locks herself in the bathroom and yells at Minny when she comes to change the bedsheets. What does this and other odd behaviors say about Celia?

8. How does the first interview between Skeeter and Aibileen go? What does Skeeter think will happen next?

9. What does Aibileen write in her small notebook? How did she get into this habit?

10. What does Aibileen ask of Skeeter during their sixth session together working on Skeeter's book?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who hires Minny Jackson after she loses her job with Mrs. Walters? What role did Aibileen play in getting this job for Minny? Why are Aibileen and Minny afraid Hilly will learn of Minny's new job and do something to ruin it? What else is odd about this job? Why does Minny repeatedly remind her employer that she promised to tell her husband about hiring a maid? Why does the employer not want her husband to know about her hiring a maid? What is unusual about this employer's attitude toward Minny? How does Minny feel about this attitude? What does Minny attempt to teach her employer? How does that work out?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the style in which the author chose to write this novel. Discuss the first person point of view. What is first person point of view? How does the writer of this novel utilize this point of view in a unique way? Does this lead to confusion for the reader? In what way? How has the author structured the chapters? How does this add to or subtract from any possible confusion to the reader? Why do you suppose the writer felt it was important to tell her story in the first person point of view? What is unique about the grammar used by two of the main characters in the novel? Why do you suppose the author chose to use such grammar in her writing?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Minny's home life. How does Minny's husband treat her? Why does Minny not stand up for herself to her husband as she does with the white women who employ her? Why does Leroy throw a dish at Minny's forehead? What does Minny tell Celia about this injury? Why does Leroy later lock Minny in the house and threaten to burn the house down around her? What does Minny do after this happens? What does Aibileen recommend Minny do in reaction to Leroy's behavior? Does she? How does this suggest a happy ending for Minny at the end of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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