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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. Who is the youngest sibling in the Gold family?

2. When a policeman asks Simon to come to the San Francisco police station, what does he tell Simon is the purpose of his visit?

3. What tradition does Gertie refuse to partake in at Saul's funeral?

4. What phenomenon had Klara found magical as a child before finding out its true nature?

5. What is the address of the Gold family's apartment?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the Gold children's maternal grandmother die and why are the children adults before they find out this information?

2. How is the theme of guilt depicted within Gertie's feelings about her son after his death?

3. Who is the first of the Gold siblings to hear about the fortune teller and what action does this sibling then take?

4. How is repetition employed within the opening passage of Part Two:Proteus and to what effect?

5. What evidence does the author provide for the claim that the Gold children in 1969 "are siblings, this summer, in a way they never will be again" (4)?

6. How does the author depict Simon's mixed feelings about his mother's decision to relinquish him at the police station?

7. What does the narrator mean when describing Simon's impression of the Castro district as being like a "fallout shelter" (79)?

8. When the narrator reveals that Raj has "big plans" (113) for overhauling Klara's act, what kind of changes does the narrator depict?

9. What is the significance of Klara's feelings about the phenomenon of red tide?

10. Which of the Gold siblings is the most apprehensive about the prospect of visiting the fortune teller and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's messages about guilt and responsibility within the novel The Immortalists.

Essay Topic 2

Write a critical essay about the novel while using the critical power theory lens of feminist theory. Use textual evidence to back up your strong, specific claim regarding the novel's treatment of gender roles, the objectification of women, female empowerment, misogyny's role within society, or any other issues related to feminist theory that can be found in the book.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author's choice to tell the story of The Immortalists using the third-person omniscient point of view. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what is the author's intended effect on the reader?

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