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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Clarissa imagine her roses appear to be, according to Mary's view of the world?
(a) Symbolic of transience.
(b) Unnecessary and expensive.
(c) Things of beauty and substance.
(d) Symbolic of oppression.

2. What gives Mrs. Latch's garage the look of a miniature house?
(a) The way the door has a green-shuttered window in it.
(b) The way the door has a cantilevered front extension, like a storm porch.
(c) The way the door has two little red windows in it.
(d) The size and shape of it compared to the main house.

3. What drove Clarissa to part from Richard over thirty years ago?
(a) The power of her suburban morality.
(b) Her desire to be famous.
(c) He love for Louis and Sally.
(d) Her desire for a relatively ordinary life.

4. How does Virginia describe Vanessa's hand?
(a) Plump.
(b) Skinny.
(c) Moist and fat.
(d) Elegant and graceful.

5. What world does Laura feel she now inhabits?
(a) A twilight zone of London in the twenties.
(b) A holistic zone of healing.
(c) A world away from the mundane.
(d) A twilight world of Los Angeles smog.

6. What is disturbing about Virginia kissing Vanessa?
(a) It is done behind Nelly's back.
(b) It is done behind Leonard's back.
(c) It happens on the train to London.
(d) It is not quite innocent.

7. Why can't Laura take the sleeping pills?
(a) She feels guilty.
(b) They are too strong.
(c) They are past use-by date.
(d) She is pregnant.

8. As she drives, in what does Laura find consolation?
(a) The impeccable way she has organized things.
(b) That her earrings match her bracelet.
(c) That she has remembered to bring her book.
(d) That the car is clean.

9. What is the very long chapter in Richard's novel concerned with?
(a) A woman shopping for nail polish.
(b) The uses of sandpaper.
(c) A woman giving birth.
(d) A meditation over the breaking of an egg.

10. What is Nelly preparing for supper?
(a) Boiled beef.
(b) Beef Wellington.
(c) Roast beef.
(d) Beef with burgundy.

11. From the description at the beginning of this chapter, what would be a good word to use to describe Walter Hardy's expression?
(a) Hang-dog.
(b) Sarcastic.
(c) Inscrutable.
(d) Brilliant.

12. How many times has Laura tried to get the cake right?
(a) Three times.
(b) Twice.
(c) She gave up and bought one.
(d) Once.

13. What does Richie sense he and his father might have in common?
(a) The need for emotional stability in their lives, as embodied by Laura.
(b) The need to be strong and withstand Laura's pressures.
(c) A love of the arts.
(d) Restlessness and a feeling of dislocation.

14. What does London mean to Virginia?
(a) Vanity.
(b) Fear.
(c) Freedom.
(d) Crowds and complications.

15. What do both Clarissa and Louis notice about each other?
(a) That each is well-preserved for their age.
(b) That each has has plastic surgery.
(c) That each is nervous for Richard.
(d) The extent of their aging in five years.

Short Answer Questions

1. What surprises Sally about Oliver?

2. With which particular person does Laura contrast her own life?

3. How does this chapter begin?

4. To Clarissa, what does Mary resemble?

5. What prompts Laura's fury?

(see the answer keys)

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