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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. What did Sonny Jameson borrow from Lessing?

2. Who was the editor of The New Rhodesia?

3. Where did Kurt claim his real education occurred?

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

5. In Chapter 15, whom did Lessing find drinking wine with Gottfried?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe Lessing's relationship with Ivy.

3. Describe the feeling that Lessing had before she left Frank.

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

5. In Chapter 11, who was Dorothy Schwartz?

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

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

8. What did Lessing believe to be the true cause of her father's death?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the way in which Lessing presented her relationship with her mother. Did she respect or resent her mother? What strained their relationship? Why did Lessing's mother disapprove of Lessing's choices? Ultimately, how did Lessing reflect on her relationship with her mother?

Essay Topic 2

As a child, Lessing grew up in Persia and Southern Rhodesia - regions that were both part of the British Commonwealth. Examine the way in which Lessing discussed life as an English citizen living in the Commonwealth. What were the conditions of their lives as English citizens? How did the lives of the English differ from the lives of the indigenous peoples? How did Lessing treat those conditions and differences?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Lessing's perspective on social and political activism. How did Lessing connect theory and praxis? Were the people whom she associated with isolated intellectuals or were they activists for a particular cause? How did Lessing portray activist causes throughout her autobiography? What did she advocate?

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