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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. When two teenagers break into Bird House and rob it, what does Lorelei compare the event to?

2. What does Lorelei say is the cause of her isolation from the rest of her family?

3. What is Rory most afraid of when he brings Kayleigh home to meet his mother?

4. What is significant about the details given about the dress Beth wears on her first date with Jason?

5. What is Rory's daughter's name?

Short Essay Questions

1. What sign of growth does Lorelei show in her New Years email to Jim?

2. How does the craft box demonstrate how Lorelei's collecting evolves into hoarding?

3. How does Beth's relationship with Jason result from the actions of other people in Beth's life?

4. During their vacation to Greece, what details demonstrate that Bill is not as involved with the family as Meg is?

5. How does Colin end up as Lorelei's next-door neighbor?

6. Describe Meg's complicated mix of feelings about Rhys.

7. In the early years of her relationship with Lorelei, how does Vicky view Lorelei, and how does she view Lorelei's children?

8. When she is in Greece, what causes Meg to be momentarily suspicious about Beth and Bill, and what does she decide is probably going on?

9. When Meg and Molly are leaving Bird House, what does Molly say she has a hard time imagining, and what question does she ask her mother?

10. When Kayleigh is talking to Beth about quitting smoking, what does Beth assume she is really saying, and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the significance of the thematic motif of birds in The House We Grew Up In? How does Jewell use the family name, Lorelei's devotion to the Easter egg hunt and collecting the egg foils, and other references to birds to convey ideas about home and family? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about the symbolic significance of birds and things related to birds in this text. Support your claims with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Choose one idea associated with Easter Sunday--religious or secular--and show how this idea is developed through the text's focus on the Bird family's celebrations of Easter. (Note that you are tracing an idea, like "rebirth," "salvation," or "springtime," not a tradition, object, etc., like "Easter egg hunts.") Trace the development of this idea throughout the text and show how this symbolic association illuminates important aspects of the Bird family's story. Support your claims with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 3

What is the function of the incest motif in The House We Grew Up In? How does it impact the reader's understanding of the characters and their struggles in life? How does it convey messages about healthy and unhealthy family relationships? Write an essay in which you describe how this motif is developed in the lives of the various family members, analyze the nature of this alleged "incest," and then advance a theory about what purpose Jewell intends the motif to serve. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from diction, details, narrative perspective, and plot.

(see the answer keys)

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