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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. By the time Chapter Four opens, Henry's anxiety has grown to the point where he is washing Iris with what object?

2. What show does Lizzie put on for Henry in Chapter Four, calling it a "soothing hour of television" (155)?

3. Lizzie describes Henry's reaction to his divorce by saying that he is "sad but mostly" (155) what?

4. Henry confesses to Lizzie in Chapter Three that he is having bad thoughts about which character?

5. When Lizzie forces Henry to lie down in Chapter Three, how much time does it take for him to fall asleep?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is "milling" (129) in the context of the field called Disaster Psychology?

2. In what way does the motif of dreams arise within Chapter Four in order to again demonstrate the strong connection between Henry and Lizzie?

3. Describe two incidents that demonstrate Lizzie's concern about the growing feelings of hate in the wake of Trump's election.

4. In what kind of dwelling do Ben and Catherine live and what is the significance of this fact?

5. How does Sylvia react when Lizzie shares her plans for creating a 'doomstead' for her family someday?

6. For what reason does Offill allude to C.S. Lewis's novel Prince Caspian in Chapter Four?

7. For what reason does Lizzie stay home during the three weeks of Ben and Eli's absence in Chapter Four?

8. What political event has just occurred when Chapter Three begins?

9. Discuss an instance when Offill uses a literary device to illustrate some aspect of the sibling relationship between Ben and Lizzie.

10. Explain the significance of Lizzie's claim at the end of Chapter Four that she has "so many people" (192).

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Offill’s novel Weather: A Novel. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Offill’s use of metaphor, simile, imagery, and other literary devices as a means to send particular thematic messages within the narrative of Weather: A Novel.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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