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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 old was the narrator when she cut her hair for the first time?

2. Who in the novel is both physically and mentally abusive?

3. Who are evident but unequal friends in the novel?

4. After they return to France, who lives with the mother?

5. What contributed to the narrator's ravaged face?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the lover fear the relationship will become public?

2. What does the relationship do to the couple with reference to society?

3. Describe the narrator's outfit in Segment 2. In what way does it transform her?

4. Who is the Lady from Savana Khet and why is her story put in segment 15?

5. Would the brothers and the narrator be considered to be equals?

6. What metaphor is used in sync with the narrator's perfect moment in time, when she is on the ferry where she will meet the lover?

7. Who chooses to ignore the relationship? Why?

8. How does the mother feel about the education of her children? How do they act in return?

9. In segment 14, according to the narrator, what evolved over a period of about seven years?

10. In segment 13, what happens between the narrator and the lover that results in the narrator being turned off by the lover for the first time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator tells a few stories in the novel that seemingly have nothing to do with the plot or her life story. However, these stories can be seen to parallel the narrator's own story. What are these stories or instances that the narrator relates to the reader? Summarize them and explain why or how they are used as metaphors for the narrator's life. Why does the narrator choose to use these comparisons?

Essay Topic 2

Identify important symbols in the novel. What can be seen as symbols of the relationship? What symbolizes the dysfunction of the family? What symbolizes the narrator's sexuality? How are these symbols related to the novel and what do they express about the subjects they are symbolizing?

Essay Topic 3

Portraits and photography are widely talked about and referred to in this novel. Identify points in the novel where photographs are described and the metaphors used with the photographs. Why is this such a key element within the novel? What are the similarities between professional photography and real life? What are the differences? How do the narrator and her mother feel about photography?

(see the answer keys)

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