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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. In Chapter 17, how did Klaus' father keep his name off the debt list?
(a) Klaus' father performed an abortion for a Nazi official.
(b) Klaus' father blackmailed a Nazi official.
(c) Klaus' father married the sister of a prominent Nazi.
(d) Klaus' father paid off a Nazi.

2. Where did Kurt claim his real education occurred?
(a) Cafes in Vienna.
(b) Auschwitz.
(c) World War II.
(d) Cambridge.

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

4. How many eggs did Lessing attend to on the farm?
(a) 64.
(b) 88.
(c) 7.
(d) 72.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the Portuguese woman give to Lessing?

2. Why was it especially dangerous for Gottfried to carry on an affair?

3. Where did Lessing first experience a social event in which she and black people were treated equally?

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

5. What did Lessing's father assume when she and Frank showed up at the family farm?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Lessing direct her focus on the Communist ideas that she was developing in this chapter instead of focusing on the events of her life?

2. How did Lessing describe Kurt in Chapter 16?

3. In Chapter 18, what circumstances prevented Lessing from getting much writing done?

4. What conditions did Lessing ponder as possible circumstances that would have changed her views on Communism?

5. How did Lessing respond to increasing unhappiness with her marital and home situation?

6. Describe Lessing's entrance into love and romance as she describes it in Chapter 10.

7. In Chapter 13, how did Lessing rationalize her decision to leave Frank and their two children?

8. When John was 9 months old, what did Lessing and Frank decide to do?

9. How did Lessing support herself when she no longer lived with her parents?

10. In Chapter 12, how does Lessing describe her first son, John?

(see the answer keys)

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