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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. Which of the following books did Lessing use to illustrate the difference in transitioning from the consciousness of a child to that of an adult?
(a) The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
(b) Hamlet.
(c) Tristram Shandy.
(d) Pride and Prejudice.

2. How many adults lived in the Persian house while Lessing was growing up?
(a) Four.
(b) Two.
(c) One.
(d) Three.

3. Where was Doris Lessing born?
(a) Kermanshah, Persia.
(b) Glasgow, Scotland.
(c) London, England.
(d) Southern Rhodesia.

4. What type of animals frequently made their way into the Tayler house?
(a) Cats.
(b) Beetles.
(c) Lizards.
(d) Snakes.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Lessing's name for her outward personality?

2. How did Lessing's mother pack differently for her new life in Africa than she did for Persia?

3. How long before this book was written did Europeans arrive in Southern Rhodesia?

4. In Chapter 3, which of the following does Lessing describe as her first memory?

5. In Chapter 2, what is one thing that Lessing says the writer must have in order to begin to write about his/her life?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Lessing become an atheist?

2. From the details Lessing provides in Chapter 1, describe the circumstances which led to Maude's broken heart.

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

4. What sensation predominated Lessing's childhood?

5. In Chapter 8, how did the girls at the school avoid exams?

6. How does Lessing describe her childhood vulnerability?

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

8. How did Lessing's mother explain the bout of illness that kept her confined to bed?

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

10. How did Lessing avoid dealing with her conflicts with her mother?

(see the answer keys)

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