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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 does Lessing mention as the one thing that would have stopped her from marrying Frank?
(a) Her mother's support.
(b) Her father's support.
(c) Her mother's opposition to the marriage.
(d) Her father's admonition against making that mistake.

2. What did Lessing do most afternoons with the new baby?
(a) Lessing would visit Gottfried at the office.
(b) Lessing would walk around with the baby in the pram.
(c) Lessing would drive out to see her father.
(d) Lessing would prepare evening meals.

3. How does Lessing describe their sex life?
(a) Spirited.
(b) Strained.
(c) Exciting.
(d) Sad.

4. What did Sonny Jameson borrow from Lessing?
(a) Her short stories.
(b) Her collection of Everyman books.
(c) Her typewriter.
(d) Her fountain pen.

5. Who is the hero of Fathers and Sons, the book Lessing cites in this chapter?
(a) Karamazov.
(b) Bazarov.
(c) Borislov.
(d) Turgenev.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following phenomenons did Frank and Lessing consistently criticize?

2. What did Lessing notice about the workers at the Guardian?

3. In Chapter 19, what was the white population of Salisbury?

4. When did Gottfried Lessing arrive in Southern Rhodesia?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Lessing's relationship with Ivy.

2. In Chapter 19, what does Lessing describe as the smartest decision that she ever made?

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

4. Describe the beginning of Lessing's relationship with Gottfried.

5. In Chapter 11, who was Dorothy Schwartz?

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

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

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

9. 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?

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

(see the answer keys)

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