View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What job does Sophie always end up with in the windstorm?

2. Who keeps looking over Sophie's shoulder while she tries to write in her journal in the car?

3. In Sophie's story, where does Bompie go to see the ocean?

4. After the wave hits, who becomes "Mr. Fix-It"?

5. What does Uncle Stew really want to do for a living?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Uncle Stew say about the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current?

2. What is the significance of the stops the boat makes before setting out to sea?

3. What settles the argument about where Bompie should live?

4. When the family comes to visit Bompie, how does he react?

5. How does Sophie describe the color of the sea?

6. As Dock tells his story of the little girl, what does Cody realize about Sophie's stories?

7. What quotation from Tennyson does Uncle Dock yell out?

8. What do Sophie and Cody do to the sails of the boat, when they finally get them up again?

9. What dreams does Cody have about Sophie, after the storms are over?

10. In Sophie's story about Bompie and his father, why does Bompie visit his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the primary themes of the novel is identity. Discus identity in the novel.

1) What elements help Sophie to find her identity and sense of self? Why does Sophie find it difficult to find her identity and where she fits into the world?

2) How do family, experience, memory, careers, and heritage affect identity in the novel?

3) How is storytelling a part of building identity for Sophie? What other ways do characters build or understand their identities?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss careers in the novel.

1) How do the characters define themselves by their careers? How have Mo and Stew's careers changed them?

2) How does Sophie define herself by what she will be in the future? Why does she imagine different types of lives?

3) How do Sophie, Brian, and Cody view careers differently from each other?

Essay Topic 3

The novel is told from two different point of view, Sophie's and Cody's. Discuss point of view in the novel.

1) How is Sophie's point of view different from Cody's? What does having two points of view add to the story?

2) How would the novel be different if it were told from a neutral point of view, instead of through the characters' journals?

3) Why is the same scene often presented twice, by the two different narrators?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 783 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample