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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 does Marie have on her body as a result of her affair with the contractor?

2. What street is Dara's house on?

3. What do male dancers often wear under their costumes?

4. What did Mrs. Bloom do the previous year that Charlie brings up in Part I as being odd?

5. Who wrote The Nutcracker?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens at the dance school in Part I that sets Dara, Marie and Charlie on a terrible trajectory?

2. What begins to go wrong with the contractor, Derek, at the dance studio in Part II?

3. How do Dara's and Marie's parents die?

4. What has Marie done recently, before the start of the book, that Charlie and Dara are stung by?

5. What does Dara's and Marie's mother devote her life to?

6. How do dancers' feet usually look and feel?

7. Why has Marie been living at the dance studio?

8. How do the parents at the school of dance generally interact with Dara?

9. What does Dara's, Charlie's, and Marie's house look like?

10. What are Charlie's health problems and how did he develop them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Mrs. Bloom tell Dara it is essential for her to see Mrs. Bloom's bathroom to understand what might have happened between Marie and Derek, and what does Mrs. Bloom's bathroom symbolize? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What does Marie do in the early part of the novel that causes such strife between herself and her sister Dara? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

What are some of the traumas and difficulties Dara, Charlie and Marie survived in the aftermath of living with Mr. and Mrs. Durant? How do each of these characters remember their childhoods together in the Durant house? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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