View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. The meeting described in the novel's epigraph takes place in which state?

2. Henry gets a job working for what kind of company in Chapter One?

3. Ben has a PhD in which discipline?

4. The townspeople featured in the epigraph of Weather: A Novel declare themselves to be what entities?

5. Lizzie works in which part of the university where she went to school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of William Derham's 1711 quote, when viewed in the context of Sylvia's hope for the future?

2. Where does Henry go when he loses his apartment in Chapter One?

3. What habit does Henry adopt when Catherine's due date draws near?

4. Why is Lizzie relieved when Henry and Catherine decide not to have a big wedding?

5. Describe the protagonist's immediate family as depicted in Chapter One of Weather: A Novel.

6. What time of year is it by the time Chapter One comes to a close?

7. What does the moth from Madagascar symbolize and why?

8. Discuss an instance when the motif of dreams enters the narrative of Chapter Two.

9. For what reason does Lizzie go on fewer trips with Sylvia in the summer?

10. Characterize the relationship between Lizzie and her brother Henry.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose an object from Weather: A Novel, such as the green coat, the educational video game, the slips of paper on which Henry writes his horrific visions, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

Essay Topic 2

Sensory details are used frequently by Offill in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of Weather: A Novel. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Offill’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

How are the topics of romantic relationships, love, and sex treated within the novel Weather: A Novel and how does their treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 897 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample