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

2. In Chapter 8, what does Lessing reference as a common theme throughout her childhood?
(a) Adventures.
(b) Dreams.
(c) Fires.
(d) Trees.

3. What article of clothing caught young Lessing's attention on Bayswater Road?
(a) A fur coat.
(b) A lavish rose gown.
(c) A pair of ladies' riding pants.
(d) A grey silk shift dress.

4. Where was John McVeagh born?
(a) Rhodesia.
(b) Persia.
(c) Portugal.
(d) England.

5. Which of the following did Lessing delight in telling the other children at the school?
(a) That lying would make their face stick in a horrible position.
(b) That being naughty was more fun than behaving.
(c) That being naughty was much worse than lying.
(d) That a lie was worse than being naughty.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Lessing refuse to have on her bed at night?

2. Where did Lessing's family live before they found property?

3. What did Biddy O'Halloran's skin resemble?

4. Which of the following illnesses did Lessing's family battle?

5. Which of the following drugs does Lessing admit to having taken once?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What did Lessing do one night when she was forced to remain in the cabin while her parents attended a dance?

4. Describe the English views of themselves and their relation to other people as Lessing portrays it in this chapter.

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

6. What advantage does Lessing that claim she has in writing her autobiography late in her life?

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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