View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following organizations asked Lessing to write a play in the 1950's?
(a) The Shakespeare Theater Company.
(b) The BBC.
(c) The Liverpool Theater Company.
(d) The Royal Theater Company.

2. How did Mrs. Mitchell and her son treat their Black servants?
(a) Mrs. Mitchell and her son treated their Black servants just like family.
(b) Mrs. Mitchell and her son treated their black servants like slaves.
(c) Mrs. Mitchell and her son completely ignored their Black servants.
(d) Mrs. Mitchell and her son screamed at and berated their Black servants.

3. How did Lessing's mother cure Lessing's lice problem?
(a) By washing her hair with scalding hot water.
(b) With expensive shampoo.
(c) With paraffin.
(d) By shaving her head.

4. How many biographers were writing about Lessing at the time that she wrote the book?
(a) Eight.
(b) Two.
(c) Five.
(d) Four.

5. What image from the photograph album does Lessing describe?
(a) A trip to the market.
(b) A visit to her father's workplace.
(c) Her first day in the Persian house.
(d) A visit to a swimming bath.

6. What event in Lessing's childhood does she describe as having left her inconsolable?
(a) The move to Africa.
(b) The first day of school.
(c) The beginning of war.
(d) The death of her cat.

7. Who stated that children should play in mud?
(a) Lessing's father.
(b) Montessori.
(c) Mrs. Scott.
(d) Lessing's mother.

8. In Chapter 2, what is one thing that Lessing says the writer must have in order to begin to write about his/her life?
(a) Copious emotional space.
(b) Perspective.
(c) Free time.
(d) Tedious, rhetorical questions.

9. What did Biddy O'Halloran's skin resemble?
(a) Peaches and cream.
(b) Bronze.
(c) Red jelly and cream.
(d) Olives.

10. With whom did Lessing board as a child?
(a) Mary Peach.
(b) Mrs. Mitchell.
(c) Mrs. Scott.
(d) Mrs. James.

11. What year did Lessing leave Southern Rhodesia?
(a) 1949.
(b) 1919.
(c) 1934.
(d) 1945.

12. Why did Lessing's father miss the Battle of the Somme?
(a) A dishonorable discharge.
(b) A case of depression.
(c) An amputated leg.
(d) A bad appendix.

13. Which of the following historic examples does Lessing use to support her claims about human nature?
(a) The Holocaust.
(b) The Reformation.
(c) The Crusades.
(d) The Renaissance.

14. How many family members went to visit Lessing's house in Persia?
(a) Three.
(b) Four.
(c) Two.
(d) Six.

15. What did Lessing's father think of his Persian business partners?
(a) That they were incompetent.
(b) That they were corrupt.
(c) That they were members of a different culture.
(d) That they were lazy.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Lessing, what is the most intense form of hatred?

2. Which of the following does Lessing blame for the distrust that 20th Century people have in their governments?

3. What did Lessing's parents think of the Whiteheads when they first met them?

4. After returning to England, where did Lessing's family settle?

5. At what age did Emily McVeagh die?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 494 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample