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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 comes to see Dara at the end of Nutcracker practice?

2. What does Derek tell Dara and Charlie about the flood in the studio?

3. What theater does the Durant School always hold The Nutcracker at?

4. How does Marie say she paid for her large purchase in Part III?

5. What does Derek tell Dara that Marie told him Dara and Charlie had wanted months earlier?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Dara call Mrs. Bloom in Part III?

2. Why does Dara eventually realize her mother never cast herself or Marie as Clara in The Nutcracker?

3. What does Marie do outside that is strange and sad in the immediate aftermath of Derek's death?

4. What does Dara learn from the newspaper report of Derek's death that unsettles her?

5. What does Charlie do once a month in an homage to Dara's mother?

6. What do Benny and Gaspar tell Dara after Derek's death?

7. In Part III, what does Derek start to suggest to Dara that enrages and scares Dara?

8. Why does Bailey Bloom refuse to stop dancing in rehearsal, even after she gets sick?

9. What does Mrs. Bloom tell Dara about Derek and Marie that terrifies Dara?

10. Why does Dara tell Charlie in Part III that they have to fire Derek?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Abbott characterize The Nutcracker as a story and as a ballet, and how does this characterization help set the backdrop and tone to the entire novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How do the other students treat Bailey Bloom after she is cast as Clara in The Nutcracker, and what does this behavior reveal about the nature of ballet and its students, in Dara's opinion? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Why does Dara believe that she is the strongest of the three of them, herself, Charlie, and Marie, and in what ways does Dara assert her dominance between the three of them? 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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