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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 does Sissy suspect that Son is trying to hide from Thomas?

2. What subject does Lorraine like to talk to Sissy about?

3. What news does the person in #164 have for Rose?

4. What does Thomas show Sissy the next morning?

5. What does Rose reply when Sissy asked her why she moved out of the farmhouse?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the reason that Rose stays so distant from Sissy?

2. What is the relationship between Sissy and the girls at the home, one girl in particular?

3. How does Son's injury make Sissy even more resentful of her mother's distant behavior?

4. How do Sissy and Son meet Thomas Clinton, Sissy's biological father?

5. Why does it never occur to Sissy that Thomas could be her biological father?

6. Who is Lorraine and how does Sissy meet her?

7. What problem does Sissy have now that she is about the same age as the girls coming to St. Elizabeth's?

8. What circumstances prompt Rose's abrupt departure?

9. How have the driving lessons provides some hope for a better relationship between Sissy and Rose?

10. When did Sissy learn that she was not adopted?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the role of women in Ireland in the mid-20th century when the women in the novel are living their lives. What precedents do they feel compelled to follow? What restrictions do they have? What freedoms did they have that 21st century women do not have?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the role of the family in THE PATRON SAINT OF LIARS. What does it mean for each of the main characters? How does the family evolve in its support of each other? How typical is this family to most families living during the mid-20th century?

Essay Topic 3

The author uses more than one iteration on the theme of lying. Identify at least two characters who either embody or experience lying and then cite an example to support your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,154 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample