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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. To which party did Ken Graham belong?

2. How many jobs was Gottfried working?

3. In Chapter 18, which of the following is NOT one of the dictators whom Lessing lists?

4. What was the highest ambition of Black workers in Salisbury?

5. Where did Frank and Lessing go on their honeymoon?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe Lessing's ultimate assessment of the impact of the Communist Party in Southern Rhodesian politics.

3. Describe Lessing's reaction to the end of World War II.

4. 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?

5. Discuss Lessing's mini-vacation to Capetown.

6. What did Lessing realize when she was diagnosed with Low Fever and sent to the mountains to recover?

7. In Chapter 15, what reason did Lessing give for switching law firms?

8. Describe the letter Lessing received from her mother in Chapter 9.

9. What rationale did Lessing give for her marriage to Gottfried Lessing in Chapter 14?

10. Describe Lessing's activities in Capetown in Chapter 17.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In a memoir that spans three continents over the course of the author's life, space and place become particularly significant to the story and to Lessing's overall commentary. Examine the way in which she treats various spaces and places in the text. What themes, messages, or ideas does Lessing develop through her treatment of spaces and places? How does she portray those spaces and places? Be sure to consider limited spaces such as the various houses that Lessing recalls, and places as broad as the countries she lived in, to the various cities or communities where she resided.

Essay Topic 2

At the same time that Lessing wrote her autobiography, she critically engaged with the strengths and limitations of the form by recounting a valuable form of truth. Explore Lessing's commentary on the autobiography as a genre. What did she believe to be the value in writing her autobiography? What did Lessing perceive to be its limitation? How did exploring Lessing's perspective on the genre that she was using, illuminate the value of the text that resulted from that questioning? What did she ultimately offer her readers with regard to objectivity, subjectivity, or truth? How much more did you know about Lessing herself at the end of her work?

Essay Topic 3

As Lessing reached early adulthood, she moved in very cosmopolitan circles of society. Where did that cosmopolitanism attribute of hers originate? How did the diversity within her social circles contribute to the political and intellectual positions assumed by members of those groups? In what ways were cosmopolitan circles limited?

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