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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 is Lorelei beginning to talk with Meg about for the first time when their conversation is interrupted by Vicky's daughters bringing in a cake?

2. What middle name has Beth given her daughter?

3. In Chapter 9, what causes Beth to think she might need some medical attention?

4. When Rory is living overseas, which of his family members does he miss the most?

5. Why does Lorelei say Rhys was her favorite child?

Short Essay Questions

1. During Beth's September, 2006 visit to England, what contrast is there between her attitude toward the affair and Bill's?

2. What obstacle prevents Lorelei and Jim from spending time together in person, and how does Jim propose they deal with this issue?

3. What does Lorelei's Chapter 16 email to Jim reveal happened between her and Rhys on the night before Rhys's death?

4. What differences between Colin and Rory are illustrated by the encounter with Rochana, the young woman feeding her baby near Rory's room?

5. How does Meg's reaction to the news that Colin and Kayleigh are camping while they are in England affirm Kayleigh's characterization of Meg's and Beth's reaction to her?

6. What evidence is there at Vicky's funeral and wake that Meg's attitude about Colin and Kayleigh is changing?

7. What assurance does Lorelei offer Jim about their relationship and his drinking, and how does this relate to her own struggles with hoarding?

8. What caused Meg to kick Bill out in 2003, and what was the result?

9. What evidence does Kayleigh cite when she calls Beth and Meg "heartless bitches" (305)?

10. How does Colin's conversation with Beth alter the reader's understanding of his conversation with Rory about Kayleigh and Tia?

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 story does Lorelei choose to convey through her emails to Jim? How does this story reveal her character and her perspective? What does it add to the book to be able to see into Lorelei's mind in this way? How do her emails create foreshadowing and suspense? Write an essay that considers the effect of incorporating these emails into the text. Show how the reader's understanding of character and theme are impacted by these emails, and discuss the emails' impact on reader engagement. Support your assertions 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.

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