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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. How does Thomas burn the skin off his hands in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

2. How fast is the Sixth Borough drifting away from New York in the story?

3. What is the only object Thomas retrieves in the rubble of Dresden?

4. What does Oskar decide to do in the final moment of Alive and Alone?

5. What event does interviewee at the beginning of Happiness, Happiness describe?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the living arrangement between Grandma and Thomas in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

2. Describe Thomas's experience during the bombing of Dresden.

3. What does Oskar tell Thomas, Sr. over the course of Alive and Alone?

4. What does Thomas learn immediately before the bombing of Dresden begins?

5. What does does Thomas tell his son about his and and his former wife's location at the beginning Why I'm Not Where You Are?

6. How does Oskar overcome a phobia in Alive and Alone?

7. What is revealed by the long jump at the beginning of The Sixth Borough?

8. How does the sixth borough's drift affect a boy and girl in the story?

9. What major item movement happens between the sixth borough and and Manhattan as it drifts off?

10. What is Oskar's attitude toward Dr. Fein?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oskar Schell is a fearful child, and his fears can fall into two camps that are real and imagined. Write an essay discussing these two types of fear and how they manifest themselves in the novel. For example, how do Dr. Fein and Jimmy represent a very real, concrete adversity to Oskar? What genuine concerns for his life do they present? Conversely, discuss the imagined dangers that haunt Oskar throughout the novel. From where do these fears derive and how do they affect his daily life?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the city of New York as a character in the novel. To what extent is the character of Oskar Schell making a connection with a wounded city throughout his journey? What role does his father's story of the sixth borough have in romanticizing New York on the eve of its deepest trauma? How does the key quest bring Oskar to new and different areas of a city renowned as a melting pot? In summation, what is Jonathan Safran Foer saying about the city of New York through this novel?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the marriage between Grandma and Thomas Schell, Sr. How do they find their way into each other's lives and to what extent does the tragedy of Dresden's demise play a central role in bringing them together? Chart the progression of their relationship in America form reconnection to courtship and through their marriage. How does the development of rules lead to the eventual end of their marriage? What happens when he returns to her?

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