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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 is Gifty studying at Stanford University School of Medicine?

2. When basketball took precedent over Nana’s church attendance, Gifty began going. The pastor ended every sermon asking who was ready to do what?

3. In Chapter 7, what did Gifty tell Geoffrey, her classmate, she really was?

4. After five days, Gifty’s mother finally eats some food and asks Gifty if she does what?

5. Who is Gifty’s lab mate at Stanford?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 25, when Gifty begins reading the Bible since her mother will not touch it, what does she notice that she did not notice as a child?

2. What did Gifty ask her mother while she was putting on makeup to get ready for work, and how did her mother respond?

3. What did Gifty feel in freshman biology class where she says she first learned “what and where the vagina truly was” (133)?

4. What is foreshadowed at the end of Chapter 24?

5. Gifty said her mother noticed America changed around Big Black men. How did Gifty’s mother say her father’s behavior changed in response?

6. What do Gifty and Katherine have in common?

7. Despite not liking his poetry, what connection did Gifty feel with the poet they studied, Gerard Manley Hopkins, in one of her classes?

8. What events made Gifty feel that a “particular kind of shame had descended on [her] congregation” (131)?

9. What were some of the things, described in Chapter 8, that Gifty dreamed of being as a child?

10. What does Gifty’s mom think of mental illness?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mental illness, addiction, and depression are themes in the novel. Analyze how the author uses her characters to develop these themes.

Essay Topic 2

What is the Still Face Experiment described in Chapter 10 and how did Gifty compare it to her relationship with her mother?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the paragraph on page 46 about her memories of Chin Chin. What does this tell readers about her portrayal of him in the novel? Is it reliable?

(see the answer keys)

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