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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. Of which church is Sugar a member?

2. What does the letter-writer in “The Empty Bowl” cite as her father’s favorite saying?

3. Which of the following does Fear of Asking Too Much report doing?

4. What poem is referenced in “The Lusty Broad”?

5. For how many years does Happily Ever After report her sister has been married?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reason does Helpless Mom report functioning as a single mother despite being married?

2. After her salutation, what is the first thing Sugar replies to Awful Jealous Person (258)?

3. What does Sugar note is most unsettling about the letter LTL writes?

4. What stressors does Spent report in her letter to Sugar?

5. What does Drinker note as his drinking pattern?

6. What does Sugar note prompted her decision to become a parent?

7. What questions does Sugar ask her memoir-writing students as they review student work?

8. What story does Sugar tell her husband that provokes the comment “You don’t have to be broken for me” (221)?

9. To what does the letter-writer in “Bend” ascribe her emotional affair?

10. What is the worst *physical* abuse C reports her brother perpetrating on her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Section divisions, their titles, and chapter naming / division schema are all components of paratext. That is, they are not part of the text but are associated with it closely and affect its meaning. What significance, if any, accrues to the chapter-naming scheme at work in Tiny Beautiful Things? If there is significance, how does that significance manifest? If there is not, what in the epistolary memoir supports the paratextual divisions that are in place?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the significance of the name of any one character in the text.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the ending of the book. Does it satisfy? How or how not?

(see the answer keys)

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