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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. Who are the Rom?

2. What does Nelka confess while she is in labor?

3. How is Gretel's age disguised in the photograph?

4. Why did the girl, now named Gretel, insist on sleeping under the leaves?

5. Why is the stepmother so interested in the burning barn?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the Major escape the front lines in Russia?

2. Why did Magda take the children to the village?

3. What did Germans do to people they arrested?

4. What happened to Magda's grandmother?

5. What news does Telek deliver about the Oberfuhrer and the Brown Sister?

6. What did the Stepmother do to win the approval of the Russian partisans when they first met?

7. What did Magda plan to say that would cover Hansel's circumcision?

8. What did the priest give to the children to memorize so they would fit in?

9. What are the Rom?

10. How did the Jew that was helping the Russian partisans die when they raided the farm?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, Magda repeats the phrase, "The wheel turns." Explain what she means by this and provide support for your explanation.

Essay Topic 2

The story opens with a woman insisting two children are left on the the side of a road. Discuss the Stepmother's insistence to abandon the children in the forest. In what ways did it help? In what ways did it not help? Would you have done the same if you were in that situation?

Essay Topic 3

In the chapter "The Drawing," the men decided to maim the children. Explain the reasons behind this conclusion, and discuss the implications. Would you be able to do the same, if faced with a similar situation?

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This section contains 494 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample