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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Which activity did Lessing both love and hate?
(a) Knitting.
(b) Nursing John.
(c) Walking John in the pram.
(d) Tea parties.

3. What word did Kurt ask Esther not to use?
(a) Communism.
(b) Superior.
(c) Fatherland.
(d) Blood.

4. In Chapter 9, which year does Lessing describe as a "make or break" year in her life?
(a) Her 17th year.
(b) Her 14th year.
(c) Her 12th year.
(d) Her 16th year.

5. Who did Lessing work for at this point in her life?
(a) Mr. Wisdom.
(b) Mr. Danziger.
(c) Mr. Smith.
(d) Mr. Lamb.

6. Why did Lessing remain on the farm when her father was taken to the hospital in Salisbury?
(a) Lessing did not want to accompany her parents.
(b) Lessing had fought with her mother earlier that day.
(c) Lessing's brother, Harry needed to be watched.
(d) There was an incubator of eggs that were waiting to hatch.

7. What did Lessing's father assume when she and Frank showed up at the family farm?
(a) Lessing's father assumed that she was pregnant.
(b) Lessing's father assumed that Frank was interested in the family's money.
(c) Lessing's father assumed that she was in love.
(d) Lessing's father assumed that Lessing had finally settled down.

8. What did Dr. Rosen suggest to Lessing when she went in for surgery to repair her retroverted uterus?
(a) Birth control pills.
(b) Fertility testing.
(c) Sterilization.
(d) Abortion.

9. Why did Lessing's mother rush from the farm to her home?
(a) Lessing's mother needed to inform her of her father's condition/
(b) Lessing's mother wanted to warn her about having too many children too close together.
(c) Lessing's mother wanted to end her marriage to Frank.
(d) Lessing's mother had heard rumors of an impending divorce.

10. What method of birth control had Lessing been using?
(a) None.
(b) Birth control pills.
(c) Condoms.
(d) The Dutch cap.

11. Which of the following was NOT a language commonly spoken in the Lessing home?
(a) Russian.
(b) German.
(c) French.
(d) Spanish.

12. To which party did Ken Graham belong?
(a) The group of anarchists in Southern Rhodesia.
(b) The Communist Party.
(c) The Labor Party.
(d) The Centrist Party.

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

14. What did all the women assume about Lessing's marriage to Frank?
(a) That they did not love each other.
(b) That their sex life was a failure.
(c) That they fought constantly.
(d) That they had married too soon.

15. Why did Lessing begin to eat less during meals?
(a) Because the clothing that would arrive for her was always too small.
(b) Lessing's mother told her to try to lose weight.
(c) Lessing wanted to foil her mother's attempts to feed the family well.
(d) Lessing wanted to impress a farm assistant.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Frank and Lessing go on their honeymoon?

2. In Chapter 14, what year did Lessing marry Gottfried Lessing?

3. How does Lessing describe their sex life?

4. In Chapter 17, how did Klaus' father keep his name off the debt list?

5. Which of the following was NOT one of the things that Lessing and Frank had in common?

(see the answer keys)

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