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 happens in Lachlan Raine's life the same day that Nell's former identity is exposed?

2. On page 294, what does Scarlett tell the other women her parenting philosophy is?

3. What do the police want to know about Winnie's relationship with Daniel?

4. What does Colette's response to the teenage girl on the train in Chapter Seventeen demonstrate about Colette?

5. What does the narrator think is the reason that Joshua is waiting for her to solve all of their problems?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Colette and Nell see Winnie's interview with the police, what causes them to worry about Winnie's mental health?

2. What item is delivered to all three women--Nell, Francie, and Colette--and what does it contain?

3. What are the implications of the papers that Francie finds in Scarlett's desk drawer?

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

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

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

7. In Chapter Fifteen, what promise does the narrator remember making and then immediately breaking?

8. What is ironic about Ghosh's Chapter Twenty press conference statement that everyone involved in the investigation has done "a stellar job" (276)?

9. What frightening event happens while Colette is on the subway, and how does she react?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What messages about female friendship are conveyed in The Perfect Mother? How do these messages relate to the novel's concerns with marginalization and the role of women in American society? How does the novel portray the complexity of friendship, and which aspects of friendship does it seem to value most? Write an essay that takes and defends a position about the messages this novel conveys about friendship among women. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Given the thematic motifs in The Perfect Mother, why is it so appropriate that the solution to the mystery it contains rests on the reader finally understanding how identities have been obscured by assumptions? By the end of the novel, the reader is aware of having misunderstood the identities of Joshua, Token, and the first-person narrator. The novel's puzzle can only be solved when the reader fully understands each of these identities. What does this have to do with other aspects of the novel, such as the media's misrepresentation of people and the emphasis on perspective created by shifts in narrative point of view and perspective? Write an essay in which you consider how the inference gaps that structure this mystery mimic the novel's thematic concerns. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text; be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Now that you have finished the book, you are aware of the sequence of events that led Scarlett to kidnap Midas and what Scarlett hoped would be the result of her actions. How does this relate to Midas's name? What elements of the King Midas story do you see reflected in Scarlett's choices and their outcomes? In the original story, the audience is meant to judge King Midas for his greed and lack of forethought--but does Molloy seem to be encouraging her reader to judge Scarlett in this way? What mitigating effect does Scarlett's state of mind have on the reader's judgment of her? How do the social pressures on women that this book explores provide an additional mitigating factor? Write an essay in which you explore how Molloy intends the reader to interpret the allusion to King Midas. 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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,434 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample