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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. How does Cecilia first attempt suicide?

2. What is Cecilia doing as she goes up and down the stairs before the party?

3. What garment does Cecilia always wear?

4. There is a rumor that which Lisbon girl has a crush on Dominic Palazzano?

5. Who takes Cecilia's diary from the Lisbon house?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were Mr. Lisbon's problems with the cemeteries he visited?

2. When Peter Sissen reports back to the boys about his time inside the Lisbon house, what does Paul Baldino vow to do?

3. What major revelation do the boys have upon entering the Lisbon girls' party?

4. What happens in the Baldinos' backyard to arouse neighborhood suspicions?

5. What does Cecilia look like in her coffin?

6. How did the boys obtain Cecilia's diary?

7. Describe Cecilia's bedroom.

8. Describe Cecilia Lisbon's first attempt at suicide.

9. What does the cemetery where Cecilia's service is held look like?

10. How did the emergency workers retrieve Cecilia's body?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Virgin Suicides is written from an unusual first-person plural point of view. How does this point of view affect how the story is told? What characters are part of the "we," and why do you think the author uses this deliberate ambiguity?

Essay Topic 2

Describe several ways in which the parents of the neighborhood attempt to protect or shield their children from the Lisbons' suicides. Do their efforts succeed? If so, how? If not, why not?

Essay Topic 3

Lux Lisbon becomes the one that we as readers know the most intimately. In a well-developed essay, describe her character, how it differs from her sisters', and how she fits into her family.

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