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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. How many minutes late had Rachel been to her meeting with Janie on the day of Janie's murder?

2. Which member of Connor's family has died by the time he sees Tess again after so many years?

3. In Chapter 9, Esther is on her way to which type of therapy?

4. What is NOT a part of John-Paul's plan to attain redemption for his crimes?

5. What kind of event has Cecilia been attending in Chapter 9 when she runs into Tess?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss a literary device Moriarty uses to portray a particular character's emotional response.

2. How does Moriarty introduce paradoxical qualities of family bonds within the narrative?

3. Around what allusion does the novel's preface center and which themes does it introduce?

4. What major news is revealed to Rachel in Chapter 3 and how does the news contrast with her expectations?

5. Of what cause did Ed officially die and how does his official cause of death differ from Rachel's ideas?

6. With what aspect of Tess's own personality does contact with Connor get her in touch?

7. When Cecilia comes to believe that she is having a nervous breakdown over John-Paul's news, what is her reaction to the realization and why?

8. What themes are introduced by the epigraph Moriarty includes at the beginning of The Husband's Secret?

9. What is the symbolism of the name of the advertising agency called TWF?

10. Describe the scene witnessed by the two nine-year-old boys who found Janie's body.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sensory details are used frequently by Moriarty in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of The Husband's Secret. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Moriarty’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Moriarty's choice to tell the story of The Husband's Secret using a third person omniscient narrator. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are Moriarty’s intended effects on the reader?

Essay Topic 3

How are the topics of marriage, love, and sex treated within the novel The Husband's Secret and how does their treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

(see the answer keys)

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