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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. In Chapter 15, what famous fictional city is Syracuse the inspiration for?

2. What group leaves a flyer in the front door of Sam's new house?

3. What did Clara Loomis's doctors use to treat her grief?

4. Why do two young women walk out of the meeting in Chapter 5 angrily?

5. In Chapter 11, what kind of group comes to the place Sam works?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Sam do to try to keep in touch with Ally?

2. What is going on with Lily, Sam's mother, in Part I?

3. What is one way, as Spiotta puts it, to understand what happens to Sam in Part I in terms of the upheaval in her life?

4. In Chapter 14, what does Matt do for Sam that makes it harder for her to be angry with him?

5. What does Sam think of MH when she first meets her?

6. In Chapter 6, what does Matt ask Sam to do regarding their daughter Ally?

7. How are the house Sam buys and her decision to leave her husband related?

8. How does Sam afford the house she buys in Part I?

9. What begins emerging as a source of tension between Ally and Sam early on in Ally's adolescence?

10. Where does Sam work, and what does she do there?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role do politics and ideology seem to play in Sam's and Matthew's relationship, from the beginning to their separation? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How and why does Sam feel most uncomfortable being upper middle-class throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How and why does Sam seem to finally make peace with relinquishing some control over Ally's life? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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