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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. Who is The Queen of the Hairy-Chinned Gypsies?

2. What happens to Rebekka?

3. What city do the Fishers flee to?

4. How is Margarethe initially described in the novel?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What do tulips symbolize in the beginning of the novel?

3. What is a changeling?

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

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

6. What revelation does Iris have about her new step-father during his marriage ceremony?

7. What painting does Heer van den Meer commission Schoonmaker to paint?

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

9. 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?

10. Where does Henrika's wealth come from?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the symbolism of the windmill within Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Using quotations taken from the text, discuss at least three different aspects when the windmill appears, what its presence symbolizes, and how Maguire uses that symbolism to communicate indirectly to the reader.

Essay Topic 2

While one of the central themes of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is the exploration of beauty, a smaller theme is that of ugliness. Choose three examples of ugliness (characters, actions, behavior, paintings, etc.) in the novel and discuss how Maguire uses each to convey a message about what ugliness truly is, how people convey it, and how people react to it.

Essay Topic 3

Many things are in juxtaposition in the text. Pick three characters, themes, settings, or other examples of juxtapositioning and explain how Maguire sets up the juxtaposition, the role the juxtaposition plays within the story, and what message Maguire is trying to send through each contrast.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 769 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample