View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What has happened to Pieter ten Broek?
(a) He has moved to America.
(b) He is in an insane asylum.
(c) He has lost his job with the church and is very poor now.
(d) He has died.

2. What role does Iris take in Schoonmaker's household?
(a) She makes her famous biscuits every morning.
(b) She stands outside holding an advertisement for his business.
(c) She scrubs the floors every other day.
(d) She sits so he can paint her.

3. Who eventually prevails in teaching Clara how to hem her own skirt?
(a) Ruth.
(b) The Queen of the Hairy-Chinned Gypsies.
(c) Margarethe.
(d) Iris.

4. What kind of paintings does Schoonmaker secretly paint?
(a) Paintings of nature.
(b) Paintings with bad words hidden in them.
(c) Modern, abstract paintings.
(d) Paintings of maimed and deformed people.

5. How is Ruth initially described in the novel?
(a) As shy and unable/unwilling to speak.
(b) As mentally impaired and hard to control.
(c) As beautiful and loving.
(d) As conscientious and unattractive.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Iris find most frustrating about her apprenticeship on the first day?

2. What prompts Iris to try to get Clara out of the house in Chapter 2?

3. After her mother's death, why is Clara forced to leave the house?

4. How does the Master respond to the success of his painting of Clara?

5. Right before the unveiling of the painting the Master created for van den Meer, what does Margarethe call Clara that sends Clara into a screaming rage?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Iris ask Margarethe specifically to teach her how to cook and prepare a meal?

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

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

5. What revelation does Iris have about her mother during her mother's marriage ceremony?

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

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

8. Where does Henrika's wealth come from?

9. What lesson does Margarethe want Iris to take away from their discussion about how everyone is trapped in their life by some circumstance?

10. While painting his famous painting of Clara, the Master says that he is "going to ruin" someone. Who does he mean?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 825 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample