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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 has Francie been writing in the notebook that she brings to Colette's apartment?

2. Why does Nell text Francie and Colette to turn on the Patricia Faith show right away?

3. What causes Yuko to say the May Mothers need a new meeting place?

4. In Chapter Eight, how does Nell injure herself?

5. What is Nell's line of work?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the Prologue and Chapter One make clear was the father's reaction to the narrator's pregnancy, and why?

2. Why is Nell returning to work, and how does she feel about it?

3. In Chapter Eleven, what does Francie decide the police need to investigate further?

4. Why does Francie bring a camera with her to the park in Chapter 10?

5. How does Bodhi Mogaro's attorney explain away the evidence against Mogaro?

6. What is revealed about Colette's mother in Chapter Seven?

7. What makes Colette feel like an impostor among the other May Mothers?

8. When Colette is at the park in Chapter Eight, what secret desire is she thinking about, and what stops her from trying to obtain it?

9. How do Chapters One through Three characterize Francie?

10. Who is "Token," and what is the implied source of his nickname?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What message about the importance of perspective is conveyed in The Perfect Mother? How do the novel's multiple narrative points-of-view and perspectives contribute to this message? How do the characterizations of Scarlett, Francie, Colette, and Nell contribute? What role does the non-chronological opening play in reinforcing this message? How is this message related to the ironic counterpoint between the newsletters and the main text? How is it related to the dichotomy between the public's perception of the police and politicians and Molloy's characterization of actual officers and politicians in the text? What other elements of the novel support the novel's thematic concern with perspective-taking? Write an essay that analyzes how several elements of the novel work together to convey a message about perspective. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

How does the time ordering of the novel's opening--the prologue, Chapter One, and Chapter Two--create suspense and dramatic irony that increase reader engagement with the novel's characters and its central puzzle? Write an essay in which you describe this time order and then analyze the impact that it has on the reader. Discuss the choice to begin in medias res, the use of flash-forward, the revelations that create suspense and dramatic irony, and how these techniques increase the reader's interest in the characters and the events they are caught up in. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the novel's opening; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Which conventions of the domestic thriller does Molloy observe? Which does she ignore or even actively subvert? How do these choices impact the reader? What messages might Molloy be trying to convey through these choices? Write an essay in which you consider the expectations a reader has of domestic thrillers and what Molloy accomplishes through fulfilling some of these expectations but not others. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence and evidence drawn from outside sources in MLA format.

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