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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 two languages are spoken during Reta's childhood?
(a) English and Spanish.
(b) English and German.
(c) English and French.
(d) French and Spanish.

2. Why does Reta write a check to the hostel each month?
(a) Because it is where Norah works during the day.
(b) Because it is run for homeless women with children.
(c) Because it is run for battered women.
(d) Because it is where Norah sleeps every night.

3. According to Arthur, who possesses "profound human goodness"?
(a) Reta.
(b) Alicia.
(c) Roman.
(d) Norah.

4. What rationale does Reta offer about Norah's strange behavior in her letter to Valkner?
(a) It is Norah's deliberate effort to extiguish herself and be a nothing.
(b) It is Norah's way of getting back at Reta for not being there for her.
(c) It is Norah's attempt to be special and above everyone else.
(d) It is Norah's excuse not to finish school and get her degree.

5. During dinner, after Reta and Tom have finished their work, where do Reta's thoughts turn to besides Norah?
(a) The wedding of her friend, Danielle.
(b) The bad news on television.
(c) The upcoming holidays.
(d) The two main characters in her novel.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the university Norah is accepted to in 1998?

2. What does Reta reveal about the first time she met Tom?

3. What does Reta bring Norah on the way to her appointment to have her eyebrows tinted?

4. What does Reta discover behind the furnace that belonged to the previous owners?

5. What task do Reta and Tom engage in after the package is delivered to the Winters' home?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe life in the Winters' household.

2. Describe Norah's thoughts about the two main characters in her novel, and why they are significant.

3. Why does Arthur love Alicia as a character and why is it significant?

4. Why does Reta feel that normalcy is "monstrous?"

5. Why does Reta initially think Norah's problems may have stemmed from her relationship with Ben Abbot?

6. Why does Norah make the sarcastic observation in her letter to Alexander Valkner that he must have suffered from extreme fatigue when he thought of his list of "literary big cats"?

7. Why does Danielle believe that Norah has embraced her powerlessness in society by living as a homeless person?

8. What are Reta's feelings about Tom and their sexual relationship?

9. Describe the response of the Winters' family to seeing the hostel where Norah stays and its significance.

10. When does Reta's mind begin to wander and what does she think of during dinner with Tom's physicist friend, Colin Glass?

(see the answer keys)

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