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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do Lessing's parents do in preparation for their next voyage?
(a) They saved money scrupulously.
(b) They studied French.
(c) They drew up a legal will.
(d) They had their teeth removed.

2. How old was Lessing when she wrote "The Treasure Trunk"?
(a) 10.
(b) 13.
(c) 19.
(d) 12.

3. According to Lessing, what happens to women as time passes?
(a) Women fade into the domestic sphere.
(b) Women become more significant to a culture's public culture.
(c) Women assert themselves as powerful people.
(d) Women are dropped from memory, then history.

4. Where did Lessing's father work after he was discharged from the Army?
(a) The Scotland Yard.
(b) A small farm in Rhodesia.
(c) Imperial Bank of Persia.
(d) National Hospital of England.

5. According to Lessing, above all, what does history tell us?
(a) That happiness is fleeting.
(b) That mankind is not peaceful by nature.
(c) That nothing is permanent.
(d) That circumstances dictate the person.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following song for children made Lessing's mother cry?

2. What did Lessing's father think of his Persian business partners?

3. According to Lessing, where do most of the good biographers live?

4. Which of the following names does Lessing give the personality that would comes out of her while under the influence of drugs?

5. How did Lessing rebel while aboard the ship?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Lessing become an atheist?

2. While their mother was bedridden, what did Lessing and her brother do?

3. According to Lessing in Chapter 2, what is the role of truth in autobiographical writing?

4. Describe the conflict between Lessing's parents regarding the servants.

5. In your opinion, why does Lessing trace her lineage in the opening chapter?

6. Quoting a recent historian, to what major event does Lessing attribute current feelings of mistrust toward the government?

7. In Chapter 6, what was Lessing's mother's primary concern about the children?

8. How did Lessing's parents plan to acquire land in Southern Rhodesia?

9. Describe Lessing's outlook on the future of the world and human society.

10. In Chapter 4, what prompted the Tayler family to move to Africa?

(see the answer keys)

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