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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. Where does the narrator and her mother live?

2. What condition does the narrator's mother have as explained in paragraph 1?

3. What does the narrator say her mother did the first time she owes her existence to her?

4. According to paragraph 4, during what month did Anna experience her disaster?

5. What detail about Anna does the narrator note was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the way her mother moves through their home in New Hampshire in paragraph 1?

2. What events followed lightning striking the main tent pole while Harold and Anna were performing?

3. What detail about Anna was not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the disaster?

4. How is the scene at the circus before the disaster described? What was the weather like? What was the audience doing?

5. Why does the narrator say people in the East are at a disadvantage regarding weather changes than those in the West, where she used to live?

6. Why does the narrator sometimes forget that her mother was part of the Flying Avalons?

7. Describe Anna and Harold's typical trapeze performance.

8. Why does the narrator find it unsurprising that her mother was able to perform while seven months pregnant?

9. What type of performer was the narrator's mother? Where does she live and what is her medical condition?

10. What stands in the center of town as a reminder of the disaster? Where does the narrator find out about the events that day?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing Louise Erdich’s decision to tell the story using third person point-of-view from the narrator's perspective. How does this impact the reader's understanding of the story's events? Is this effective? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing Louise Erdich’s language style and word choice in “The Leap." What are some words that stand out to you and why? What words are repeated?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the author of “The Leap." Who is she? What else has she written? How is “The Leap” similar or different from her previous works?

(see the answer keys)

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