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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. Whose face does the narrator claim he sees his own turning into in the mirror in Chapter 1?

2. Specifically, Charles's occupational title is "certified network technician" for what devices?

3. In Chapter 5, the protagonist recalls that when he played as a boy, everyone wanted to be whom?

4. Charles describes standing at the center of Loop City as like being a character within what?

5. What refers to an expression or a proposition, often algebraic, asserting the equality of two quantities?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is metaphorical about the narrator's visit to see his mother in Chapter 13?

2. Who does the narrator describe in Chapter 7? How does he communicate with this person?

3. What does the narrator say his mother taught him in Chapter 13? What is significant about this?

4. How is nostalgia defined in the excerpt "nostalgia, underlying cosmological explanation for"?

5. What symbolism and foreshadowing can be seen as the narrator arrives in Loop City in Chapter 10?

6. How is the style of the book established through the table of contents and opening quotes?

7. What is the reality of the setting like in the novel? How does the author express the abstractions of the setting?

8. Why is TAMMY crying in Chapter 2?

9. How does the narrator describe Universe 31 at night? How big is his time capsule?

10. How does the narrator describe being in Loop City in Chapter 11?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of family and the relationship between Charles's parents in the novel. What led to Charles's mother leaving?

Essay Topic 2

Define and discuss literary allusion in the narrative. From what film or literature does the character of Luke Skywalker arise?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the character of Phil in the narrative. How does the narrator feel about Phil? What does Phil symbolize?

(see the answer keys)

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