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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 happens to Rebekka?

2. What does Schoonmaker prefer the Fishers call him?

3. After Henrika's death, what is her portrait replaced with in the van den Meers' household?

4. Who is the American equivalent of Sinter Klaas, the person for whom the girls leave their shoes out one night?

5. When the book begins, who is the narrator?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of figure does Ruth become as she begins to get a little older?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. What does van den Meer's lost wealth mean for Margarethe's plan?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Margarethe could easily be described as a selfish character based on her actions throughout the story. A counter argument can also be made, however, that she is a selfless character who continually acts out of a concern to improve the situations of those around her, often at her own expense, suffering, and unhappiness. Present an argument that Margarethe is in fact a selfless character, using at least three specific examples of her selfless actions from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Several characters in the novel are initially presented as characters without much of a voice who ultimately, by the conclusion of the story, find their voice and are better able to speak in a way that is true to themselves. Choose one character for whom this is true and explain 1) why their voice was silenced or limited in the beginning of the text, 2) who limited their voice, 3) what happened to change their ability to truly "speak," and 4) what that character's newly found voice represents and says about that person's true inner character.

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