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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 the newspaper advertisement say about the hat?

2. Who does Big Moe call to complain about the Police Commissioner?

3. Who do taxi drivers say is to blame for the heavy traffic in New York?

4. When does Frank the Flower get arrested?

5. What does Morris the Florist begin offering at a discount to children under ten?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the tactic being used by General Anna to cause flats and why?

2. How does Mr. Posey's resistance to being closed by the Pea Tack Squad result in the discovery that the pushcart vendors are behind the flats?

3. What is Big Moe's argument that Frank the Flower can't be responsible for all the flats?

4. What does the Pea Tack Squad tell the packaging companies to convince them that they should shut down?

5. What do the terms "Don't be a truck" and "You're a crackpot" come to mean after the arrest of Frank the Flower?

6. There is a free newspaper that reports that pushcarts are "unsanitary." What other things has this same reporter called unsanitary and why does he make these statements.

7. What is the attitude of people who find the trucks off the streets?

8. What do the other pushcart vendors decide to do after Frank the Flower is arrested?

9. Who shot a woman with a pea pin and why?

10. What is the attitude of the truckers who are doing business in New York during the weeks prior to the pushcart war?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There comes a point where children get involved in the battle by shooting out truck tires with pea shooters. What happens to the language people use as this situation evolves? Describe this "language," including the code names and how it might have impacted the language of the people of the period. Do you consider the sayings funny?

Essay Topic 2

Who is Buddy Wisser? What is his role in the pushcart war? Was his role vital to the outcome of the war? What might have happened if Wisser hadn't been in the right place at the right time?

Essay Topic 3

List five pushcart vendors. Tell about the lives of each, including whatever details are available in the story. Do these seem like happy people? What makes you think so?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,006 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample