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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. Why does Richard get angry with Vanessa in Chapter Fourteen?

2. What happens to Vanessa on the subway in Chapter Six?

3. According to Richard in Chapter Seven, what is the one thing he can never forgive?

4. What is the profession of the man with whom Vanessa became pregnant in college, as revealed in Chapter Twenty-One?

5. According to Vanessa in Chapter Four, why had she not deserved a larger settlement in the divorce?

Short Essay Questions

1. What request does Richard make of Nellie in Chapter Five? How does she respond, and what does he do in return?

2. How does Nellie feel about Richard? How do others feel about Richard, as revealed in Chapter One?

3. What wedding gift does Richard give Nellie in Chapter Five? How does Nellie feel about this gift?

4. What problem does Nellie encounter with her wedding in Chapter Eleven?

5. How do Nellie and Richard meet? What happens during their meeting, as revealed in Chapter Three?

6. What package does Vanessa receive in Chapter Twelve? What does she think about this package?

7. What does Richard’s neighbor tell Nellie in Chapter Nine?

8. What shocking information is revealed to the reader in Chapter Eighteen?

9. What does Richard give Vanessa in Chapter Twenty-Two? Why?

10. What happens to Nellie while she is waitressing in Chapter Eleven, and how does she react?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What do you think the future has in store for Vanessa after the close of the novel? Predict Vanessa’s future based on her thoughts and actions over the course of the novel as well as the growth she experiences by the end.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Vanessa and Emma. How are they similar, and how are they different? Support your answers with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the author’s choice to tell this story by using shifting perspectives for the first part of the novel. How is the reader’s perception of the protagonist affected by this technique? How would the novel change if the story was told through a single perspective?

(see the answer keys)

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