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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When did Lessing and Frank decide to have another child?
(a) When John was 2 years old.
(b) When John was 4 years old.
(c) When John was 9 months old.
(d) When John was 9 years old.

2. Where did Frank and Lessing go on their honeymoon?
(a) Beira.
(b) Capetown.
(c) London.
(d) Umtali.

3. What time of day would Gottfried get up to go to the tobacco auctions?
(a) 3 a.m.
(b) 6 a.m.
(c) 5 a.m.
(d) 7 a.m.

4. In Chapter 13, who did Lessing encounter in the street?
(a) Her brother, Harry.
(b) Her mother.
(c) Dorothy Schwartz.
(d) Gottfried Lessing.

5. According to Lessing, what tactic did the armies use to make killing easier?
(a) Derogatory epithets and dehumanizing language.
(b) Long-distance weapons.
(c) Aerial raids on villages.
(d) Vague meetings on military idealism.

6. In Chapter 12, what did Lessing do to calm down John?
(a) She sang nursery rhymes to him.
(b) She took John for walks in the pram.
(c) She laid him on his back on the carpet.
(d) She read stories of animals to him.

7. How does Lessing describe Frank Cooper's views on the world?
(a) Amusing.
(b) Myopic.
(c) Dramatic.
(d) Disconcerting.

8. How did the daughters of the mothers of the1960's view sex?
(a) As a pleasurable pursuit.
(b) As something to avoid.
(c) As a right.
(d) As a privilege.

9. What kind of dress was Lessing wearing in the scene that she describes?
(a) Grey silk.
(b) Red velvet.
(c) Green satin.
(d) Black velvet.

10. At which establishment was Frank known as "one of the boys"?
(a) The local bar.
(b) The Left Book Club.
(c) The Yacht Club.
(d) The Sports Club.

11. Which of the following phenomenons did Frank and Lessing consistently criticize?
(a) Classism.
(b) Pretensions about education.
(c) White superiority.
(d) English customs celebrated in Rhodesia.

12. What type of culture existed in Southern Rhodesia?
(a) A sexually permissive culture.
(b) A racially-integrated culture.
(c) A drinking culture.
(d) A smoking culture.

13. Which book on the experience of Communism does Lessing cite in this chapter?
(a) Darkness at Noon.
(b) Das Kapital.
(c) Stalin's journals.
(d) The Communist Manifesto.

14. What did Lessing notice about the workers at the Guardian?
(a) Lessing noticed that there were many women working in important positions.
(b) Lessing noticed that whites worked alongside "Indians and Coloured people".
(c) Lessing noticed that very few people ran the operation.
(d) Lessing noticed that all classes of people were employed there.

15. What book does Lessing cite in her discussion of the Russian front?
(a) The Real Thing.
(b) Darkness at Noon.
(c) The Forgotten Soldier.
(d) All Quiet on the Western Front.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Lessing describe as another form of intoxication aside from alcohol?

2. What were young women specifically cautioned against in London during that period?

3. What was the name of the building in which Lessing and Gottfried rented their flat?

4. To which party did Ken Graham belong?

5. What development in young John's life took very little effort from Lessing?

(see the answer keys)

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