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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 does Ruby sing at Harold's funeral service?

2. What does Zorrie give to Janie as a gift?

3. Who starts spending more and more time with Virgil to watch over him in Part II?

4. What does the factory supervisor tell the workers about the substance they use every day?

5. What kind of shop had Zorrie's aunt once wanted to open in Frankfort?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Harold feel guilty about Zorrie miscarrying?

2. What does Noah share with Zorrie that is very personal in Part II?

3. How does Zorrie meet Harold?

4. What does Zorrie seem to think of the community's treatment of the topic of miscarriage?

5. What do the women at the factory do with the radium in their free time?

6. What does Zorrie do soon after Gus and Bessie die?

7. What tragedy does Zorrie learn about in Noah's life in Part II?

8. How does Harold die in the war?

9. In Part I, what does Zorrie do when a man she hitches a ride with puts his hand on her leg?

10. What feeling does Zorrie have that alarms herself at the summer picnic in Part I?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why and how does Zorrie eventually decide to express her decades-long yearning and affection for Noah? What happens in the aftermath of this expression? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does Laird treat the themes of hardship and struggle throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How does Laird demonstrate the effects of being raised by such a strict and joyless aunt on Zorrie in the early part of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 633 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample