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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. Whom does Francie run into at IKEA?

2. When Francie talks to Token in his apartment, whom does she begin to suspect he knew based on his remarks?

3. What falls out of the file that Aaron Neeley is carrying in Chapter Fourteen?

4. What is it implied that Nell is about to do when she calls Hoyt in Chapter Seventeen?

5. What gift does Charlie leave for Colette in Chapter Seventeen?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is ironic about Nell's boss's attitude when he is asking Nell about the magazine cover?

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

5. In Chapter Twenty-One, what does the reader learn about Dr. H?

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

7. How does the book's epilogue convey the lasting damage that Midas's abduction has caused Winnie?

8. 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?

9. What argument do Francie and Lowell get into about a stroller, and what does the argument demonstrate about their relationship?

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

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 2

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 3

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.

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