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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 word does Betsy Baron describe Cziesniewski as having trying to pronounce?

2. Who does Roger Bevins III describe Mrs. Traynor singing merrily in Chapter 32?

3. Who is the fictional writer accredited with writing Lincoln: A Story for Boys in Chapter 8?

4. What did Mrs. Tessenbaum do for many years after she was convinced she was manifesting in lingerie?

5. Who is attributed as the author of Essay Upon the Loss of a Child?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some examples of cited excerpts included in Chapters 3 and 4? What information do they relate?

2. What is the unnatural predilection that Roger Bevins III describes in Chapter 9?

3. How are Mr. Randall and Mr. Twood described?

4. How is Abraham Lincoln's demeanor described in the Wartime Washington: The Civil War Letters of Isabelle Perkins excerpt in Chapter 7?

5. Why does Willie refuse to pass on from the bardo for much of the novel?

6. What does the tendril that wraps Willie symbolic of?

7. Who is Flanders Quinn and how is he described?

8. How is the appearance of Roger Bevins III described in Chapter 9?

9. Why do Mr. Bevins and Mr. Vollman set out seeking Abraham Lincoln in Chapter 36?

10. How does Hans Vollman describe his death in Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who are the Three Bachelors? What are their names? What activities do they perform around the bardo? What role do they play in the plot of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's insertion of both fictional and nonfictional essays, excerpts, letters, etc. in Lincoln in the Bardo. What purpose to these excerpts serve? What information do they relate? Why do you think the author does not delineate the real-life excerpts from the fictional ones?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the character of Reverend Everly Thomas in Lincoln in the Bardo. When did the Reverend come to the bardo? Why did he refuse to pass through the gates? What makes the Reverend stand out amongst the inhabitants of the bardo?

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