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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When they are young, what does Clara tell Iris is the only thing that makes her happy?
(a) Spending time in her private garden.
(b) Listening to her father play the piano.
(c) Learning English from Iris.
(d) Being alone in her room.

2. After the Master's painting is met with great success, what does he ask Margarethe?
(a) If she will teach him how to paint like they do in England.
(b) To adopt Ruth.
(c) If she will move back in with him.
(d) To adopt Iris.

3. What city do the Fishers flee to?
(a) Haarlem.
(b) The reader never learns the name of the city.
(c) Paris.
(d) London.

4. What good news does van den Meer receive from an investment partner about his investment?
(a) That most of his rare books somehow survived a fire.
(b) That the jewels have been found.
(c) That his paintings are still safe in the museum.
(d) That the ship has only been delayed, not lost.

5. How does Iris propose getting Clara out of the house?
(a) By hiding her underneath Ruth's biggest dress.
(b) By sneaking out at night when no one is awake.
(c) By just having her walk out the front door.
(d) By sneaking her out in a wheelbarrow.

Short Answer Questions

1. What items does Margarethe give Iris to give the Van den Meers when she is sent over to their household for the first time?

2. Who is Schoonmaker?

3. What kind of paintings does Schoonmaker secretly paint?

4. What famous fairy tale does Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister depend on the reader being familiar with?

5. When Iris is sure Margarethe is going to punish her for trying to sneak Clara out, what does Iris receive instead?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Clara change after the incident at the windmill?

2. When Heer van den Meer first asks for Iris to come to his house and work for him, Iris wishes she could be an inanimate object. What does this symbolize?

3. When Cornelius discovers that Schoonmaker has not been invited to the wedding, what does he ask Iris to do?

4. What is Iris's relationship with her mother like in the beginning of the novel?

5. What does the title of Chapter 3, "The Girl of Ashes," refer to?

6. How does Clara get the nickname of "Cinderella"?

7. How does Clara initially react to her new stepmother's demands that she help with housework?

8. What new traits does Iris develop after Henrika's death?

9. What does the reader learn about Ruth's character and personality by the end of Chapter 1?

10. What leads to a shift of power in the marriage of van den Meer and his wife?

(see the answer keys)

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