View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What falls out of the journal that Francie finds in Colette's desk?

2. On page 290, how does Scarlett characterize the emails Francie has been sending her?

3. Who does Nell end up calling after she abruptly ends the call to Hoyt?

4. Where is the narrator during Chapter Fifteen?

5. When the neighbor Nell runs into at the Spot mentions hearing Beatrice crying at night, what does Nell claim?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Francie injure herself when she is following Token?

2. Where did Token get the papers that he gives to Falk, and how have his intentions regarding these papers shifted since he gained possession of them?

3. How do Nell and Colette end up in Scarlett's apartment?

4. In Chapter Fourteen, what causes Colette to jump to the conclusion that Midas is dead?

5. When Francie talks to Token in his apartment, what does she learn about his relationship, and how is this information expanded on later, when the narrative shifts to Token's perspective?

6. What is Francie sure that the man in the red baseball cap lied to her about, and why is she so certain?

7. At the beginning of Chapter Twenty-One, what has changed in Charlie and Colette's relationship?

8. What are Nell's motivations for ignoring her own standards in order to accept and keep the job at Simon French?

9. How does Francie's mental state both help and hinder the efforts to find Midas?

10. What is the scandal that disrupted Nell's life many years ago?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What messages about the media does Molloy convey in The Perfect Mother? Is there any irony in the fact that Molloy is making money and building a reputation by writing about kidnapping and murder, just as Faith makes money and builds her reputation by talking about kidnapping and murder on her show, or is there an important distinction between these two kinds of media? How do the high stakes of a murder investigation intensify the outcomes of Faith's journalistic decisions? How does the text's overall depiction of the press coverage of the investigation support the same messages as its depiction of Patricia Faith? How does the text's depiction of press coverage of Nell's relationship with Lachlan Raine also support these messages? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about the messages that The Perfect Mother sends about the media. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

In The Perfect Mother, both police and politicians are subjected to criticism from the media and the public. In what sense do the characterizations of Teb Shepherd and Mark Hoyt dispute the public's judgment? What does the eventual revelation of Nell's past involvement with Lachlan Raine contribute to the novel's portrait of politicians? How do the media and public reactions to Raine complicate the novel's picture of the public perception of politicians? Are politicians in this novel being judged more harshly than the police are? Write an essay that analyzes the novel's perspective on politicians and the police. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,431 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample