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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. Why has Vicky never been to Meg's home?

2. What does Molly want to do for a living when she grows up?

3. What is the name of the man that Lorelei writes her emails to?

4. Which is the only room in Bird House that Meg and Molly find is free of Lorelei's hoarded objects?

5. What does Colin tell Rory about Kayleigh when father and son are at the pub together?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the very first passage describing a Bird family Easter egg hunt characterize Meg?

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

3. What foreshadowing alerts the reader that something terrible has happened between Meg and Beth?

4. How does Colin's reaction to the art wall show that even early in the children's lives he is struggling with Lorelei's collecting?

5. How does the robbery at Bird House end Colin's dream of going to Greece?

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

7. Why is it so meaningful to Meg when Molly takes her hand before they first enter Bird House together after Lorelei's death?

8. Describe Bill and Beth's relationship as it stands in April of 1999.

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

What does it mean that Beth has chosen Lorelei's room as her own? What things of Lorelei's has she kept, and what has she changed? What does Beth mean when she says that this is her "first real room"? (384). Is there some significance to the fact that she has moved into this room just as she becomes a mother, herself? Write an essay that considers how her move back home to Bird House to occupy Lorelei's old room characterizes Beth and what it signifies about who she has become in adult life. Support your ideas with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

(see the answer keys)

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