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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 did Mal wear when Fenno first met Mal's mother?

2. Who did Mal's mother remind Fenno of?

3. What type of container held Mal's ashes?

4. Who in Tony's family was blind?

5. In Chapter 9, what lake did Fenno drive near after he drove off and left Veronique?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Fenno go to Paris in Chapter 12?

2. In Chapter 10, how were the readings at the bookstore?

3. What does Tony serve Fern for dinner in Chapter 14?

4. How does Fenno describe Mal's mother in Chapter 9?

5. What does the neighbor look like when she brings a few goodies in Chapter 15?

6. In the more than ten years that Fern has known Tony, where has he lived?

7. What photos does Lucinda show after dinner in Chapter 9 and what is her relationship to the people in the photos?

8. In Chapter 13, where did Fenno go with Lucinda on a Friday evening?

9. What did Mal spend his time doing at the beginning of Chapter 13?

10. What happened to Mal in Chapter 12 when Fenno went to Paris?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Fenno discovers that having family makes life worthwhile. When does Fenno begin to realize the importance of family? How does this realization affect him? In what ways does it change him and the way he lives life?

Essay Topic 2

The author said that love depends “upon an ecosystem, a context.” What is meant by that phrase? In what ways is the delicacy of love revealed in the novel? Is love still attainable in spite of its fragility?

Essay Topic 3

Glass uses third-person and first-person points of view in the novel. How does the change in points of view advance the plot? Why can the story not be told as effectively with just one point of view?

(see the answer keys)

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