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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 present does Reta get for Norah's seventeenth birthday while on a book tour in D.C.?

2. What kind of woman does Reta realize she cannot create for a heroine in her novel?

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

4. What sport have Christine and Natalie given up playing on Saturdays to spend the day with Norah?

5. What is undrinkable according to Colin?

Short Essay Questions

1. During Norah's visit from university the previous year, Reta states that she knew how "wildly out control" Norah was, how "she'd become dangerous to her own being." Describe why Reta comes to this conclusion.

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

3. What are some concerns Reta has in creating her fictional character Alicia, and how are they significant?

4. How does Reta respond to the death of Mr. Scribano and how is it significant?

5. Why does Reta realize that she cannot create a perfect woman as a hero in her novel?

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 the memory of shopping for the perfect scarf for Norah haunt Reta as a "big female secret" and what does the scarf represent?

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

9. According to Ben, how has Norah changed in the few weeks prior to her disappearance?

10. What attempt does Reta make to bribe her daughter Norah to come home when she visits her on her street corner and how successful is she?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Healing, both physical and psychological, is significant to the characters' recovery in the novel. Identify the ways in which the Winters family heals from the stress and trauma over the past year.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the plot and subplot of the novel, including the rising action, climax, and resolution for both.

Essay Topic 3

Shields uses the first-person point of view to show Reta's thoughts and actions, though the focus of the novel is the mystery of Norah's disappearance and subsequent homelessness. Respond to the following questions:

1. Why do you think Shields chose the first-person instead of third-person ("she")?

2. How would the novel be different if the story was told from Norah's point of view?

3. Since the first-person is a limited perspective, how would using an omniscient point of view change the tone or meaning of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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