Alias Grace

1. What color are the peonies Grace hallucinates in the prison yard?

A) yellow

B) white

C) pink

D) red

2. How did Grace know Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery? (short answer)

3. According to the poem about the murders of Nancy Montgomery and Thomas Kinnear, why did McDermott kill Kinnear?

A) because Grace was in love with Kinnear

B) because Kinnear suspected him of killing Nancy

C) because Kinnear was planning to dismiss him

D) because Grace asked him to

4. Which of the following ideas best explains the significance of the scrapbooks that Grace views in the Governor’s house?

A) They engage in deliberate falsehood.

B) They document the effects of gender norms on women.

C) They imply that memory is a construction.

D) They demonstrate that identity is fluid.

5. Grace’s experiences in the asylum foreshadow which of the following character details?

A) Dr. Jordan’s own memory problems

B) Dr. Jordan’s sexual interest in Grace

C) Dr. Jordan’s ambition

D) Dr. Jordan’s false claims as a real doctor

6. What object does Dr. Jordan bring to Grace the first time he visits her? (short answer)

7. What task does Grace complete during her meetings with Dr. Jordan?

A) polishing

B) embroidering

C) dusting

D) quilting

8. Dr. Jordan’s differing responses to Grace and Lydia most strongly represent the intersection of sexual mores and which of these theme topics?

A) age

B) race

C) social class

D) religion

9. Which of the following traits best describes Grace as a narrator?

A) perceptive

B) cunning

C) naive

D) disinterested

10. What does Jerome DuPont describe himself as, professionally? (short answer)

11. What name did Grace use while on the run with McDermott? (short answer)

12. Which set of traits best describes the demeanor of Grace’s father towards his family?

A) apathetic and neglectful

B) resentful and abusive

C) caring and protective

D) suspicious and controlling

13. What does Grace fear will happen to her mother’s soul after her death?

A) that it will be trapped at sea

B) that it will go to Hell

C) that it will possess Grace

D) that it will remain in Ireland

14. At what age does Grace begin working as a maid?

A) 16

B) 14

C) 12

D) 10

15. Why is Dr. Jordan interested in Grace’s dreams?

A) He believes dreaming is a sign of mental illness.

B) He believes talking about her dreams will set her at ease.

C) He believes dreams can predict the future.

D) He believes dreams reveal a person’s unconscious.

16. How did Mary Whitney’s parents die? (short answer)

17. When Mary and Grace tell fortunes by peeling apples, what letter does Grace’s peel resemble?

A) J

B) T

C) C

D) S

18. Which of the following thematic ideas is best exemplified by Mary’s relationship with George Alderman Parkinson?

A) the inflexibility of social class

B) the social construction of identity

C) the sexual double standard

D) the prevalence of male violence

19. How does Mary die?

A) She commits suicide after learning she’s pregnant.

B) She bleeds to death after a botched abortion.

C) She falls down the stairs during a miscarriage.

D) She starves after Mrs. Alderman Parkinson fires her.

20. What does Grace hear (or imagine she hears) Mary say in the wake of the latter’s death? (short answer)

21. Simon’s dream about being strangled by a piece of white cloth echoes which plot point?

A) Grace’s childhood

B) Jeremiah’s prophecy

C) Nancy’s death

D) McDermott’s confession

22.What initially impresses Grace about Nancy Montgomery?

A) her intelligence

B) her refined manners

C) her gold earrings

D) her resemblance to Mary

23. What does Grace immediately find disconcerting about Thomas Kinnear’s household?

A) the blurring of class boundaries

B) the light workload

C) the isolation of the house

D) the lack of female company

24. What is McDermott’s position in Kinnear’s household? (short answer)

25. Which description best characterizes McDermott’s feelings towards Nancy?

A) indifferent

B) hostile

C) lustful

D) fearful

26. Which of these subtext ideas is most strongly suggested when Grace makes up dreams to please Dr. Jordan?

A) that she may be similarly embellishing her story

B) that she’s falling in love with him

C) that she doesn’t understand the significance of his work

D) that she’s trying to seduce him

27. Why do the townspeople shun Nancy and Grace when they go to church? (short answer)

28. What does Jeremiah advise Grace to do when he visits Kinnear’s farm?

A) marry Jamie Walsh

B) join his traveling act

C) return to Ireland

D) report McDermott’s threats

29. What reason does Nancy give to Mr. Kinnear when she says she’s considering firing Grace?

A) She thinks Grace is sleeping with McDermott.

B) She thinks Grace sympathizes with the Radicals.

C) She is dissatisfied with Grace’s work.

D) She thinks there is something off about Grace.

30. What are the “angels” in Grace’s dream in actuality? (short answer)

31. How does Dr. Jordan feel around his landlady, Mrs. Humphrey?

A) bored

B) uneasy

C) angry

D) depressed

32. When Grace meets Dr. Jerome DuPont, who does she realize he is? (short answer)

33. How does Grace react when Dr. Jordan asks about her relationship with Mr. Kinnear?

A) She takes offense.

B) She denies everything.

C) She challenges him about Mrs. Humphrey.

D) She stays silent.

34. Why, according to Grace, was she reluctant to tell anyone about McDermott’s threats?

A) She was frightened of McDermott and unsure whether to believe him.

B) She found McDermott attractive and didn’t want to harm him.

C) She did not want anyone to suspect her of encouraging McDermott.

D) She was angry at the others in the household at the time.

35. Which of the following character reactions is implied by Grace’s references to God and angels on the day of the murders?

A) She feared God’s judgment.

B) She believed she was about to die.

C) She trusted that God would protect Nancy.

D) She viewed Nancy’s death as fated.

36. What is the last thing Grace claims to remember before the murders? (short answer)

37. According to Grace, what happened when she refused to help McDermott kill Mr. Kinnear?

A) McDermott tried to rape her.

B) McDermott shot at her.

C) McDermott locked her in the cellar.

D) McDermott knocked her out.

38. How does Dr. Jordan feel after Grace recounts what she remembers of the murders?

A) annoyed

B) confident

C) intrigued

D) discouraged

39. What does Grace discover is missing as she prepares to flee with McDermott?

A) Mr. Kinnear’s horse

B) Nancy’s gold earrings

C) Mary’s handkerchief

D) her red petticoat

40. What does McDermott claim Grace promised to do after the murders? (short answer)

41. Which of the following ideas is symbolized by Dr. Jordan’s dream of trying to find a body beneath layers of sheets?

A) the tension between social classes

B) the dangers of self-deception

C) the hypocrisy of society’s sexual mores

D) the elusiveness of identity

42. What piece of damning evidence does Jamie Walsh provide at Grace’s trial?

A) that Grace is wearing Nancy’s clothes

B) that Grace spoke of wanting to kill Nancy

C) that Grace experienced episodes of sleepwalking

D) that he saw Grace having sex with McDermott

43. Why does Mrs. Humphrey likely pretend not to desire her affair with Dr. Jordan?

A) because she considers him socially inferior

B) because women like her aren’t “supposed” to desire sex

C) because she recognizes his ambivalence and wants to avoid shame

D) because she wants to reject emotional investment

44. Whom does Dr. Jordan visit in Toronto? (short answer)

45. MacKenzie’s comparison of Grace to Scheherazade relates most directly to which of the following ideas?

A) the exploitation of the working class

B) the ambiguity of memory

C) the nature of storytelling

D) the trauma women experience

46. Where does Dr. Jordan go after visiting Toronto? (short answer)

47. Which statement best describes Dr. Jordan’s attraction to Grace?

A) It stems from genuine empathy and a desire to protect her from harm.

B) It stems from her apparent exoticism and the rigid mores of middle-class life.

C) It stems only from physical attraction and loneliness.

D) It stems from ambition and the hope that her case will advance his career.

48. How does Grace’s speech under hypnosis differ from her usual speech?

A) It is more vulgar.

B) It is more hesitant.

C) It is more serious.

D) It is more detailed.

49. What is the outcome of the hypnosis session?

A) Grace still claims not to remember the murders.

B) Grace’s memories of the murders seem to prove her innocent.

C) Grace’s memories of the murders seem to prove her guilty.

D) Grace seems to reveal a second, distinct personality.

50. What does Reverend Verringer suggest could explain Grace’s words and behavior? (short answer)

51. What does Mrs. Humphrey ask Dr. Jordan to do?

A) kill himself

B) leave her and never return to the city

C) kill her husband and elope with her

D) kill her

52. How does Simon develop amnesia?

A) He falls from his horse in a riding accident.

B) He suffers a head injury while serving in the Civil War.

C) He almost drowns and must be revived.

D) He has a nervous breakdown and represses traumatic memories.

53. To what city and state does Grace go after she is released from prison? (short answer)

54. What kind of quilt is Grace working on as the novel ends?

A) Tree of Paradise

B) Falling Timbers

C) Snake Fence

D) Pandora’s Box

55. Which of the following reasons best explains why Grace incorporates fabric from Nancy’s dress, Mary’s petticoat, and her own nightgown into her quilt?

A) to confess her own guilt

B) to indulge her husband’s interest in the story

C) to acknowledge their shared trauma

D) to jog her own memories of the murders