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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 has The Boy taken to doing now that Sarah is communicative?

2. What finally really captures Morgan's attention in the world?

3. Why is it a busy time of the year for Father's business?

4. Where does Harry K. Thaw go after his escape?

5. Who does Morgan want to meet?

Short Essay Questions

1. What becomes of Younger Brother?

2. What causes the theater to shake where Houdini is performing?

3. Why does Father return alone to New York, leaving the family in Atlantic City.

4. What becomes fashionable because of Morgan's obsession with Egyptology?

5. What does Father decide to do to make up for the time he has not spent with The Boy?

6. After Coalhouse arranges for his gang to escape, what happens to him?

7. Describe Morgan's buildings on Madison Avenue in Murray Hill.

8. What suddenly worries Sarah after the Fire House incident?

9. What causes Younger Brother to run out of the parlor one evening after dinner?

10. What remarkable innovation in manufacturing took place about this time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write your opinion of E. L. Doctorow's writing style. Include such things as his omitting quotation marks and writing in very short sentences. Cite specific passages in the novel that you think either did or did not convey (1) the feeling of the characters, (2) the imagery of the day, (3) the suspense of the plot, or any other concept you feel the novel addresses. How much does Doctorow's use of fictionalized real characters add to the interest of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Do some research and write a brief paper on J. Pierpont Morgan. Political cartoons of his time pictured Morgan as being bigger than Uncle Sam. In fact, he did bail out the U.S. economy at one time. There is even an undertone of racism in Morgan in the novel when he cables the D. A. to give Coalhouse his auto and hang him. From your research, explain how Doctorow's use of Morgan in the novel is believable.

Essay Topic 3

Write about Harry Houdini's fixation on finding a way to communicate with his dead mother. The attachment of Houdini to his mother is a documented fact. He also spent the rest of his life looking for someone who could make contact with the dead. In the process he became an authority on fakes and charlatans who claimed special powers to channel the dead. In your paper, explain why you think Doctorow used Houdini as a major character in the book? Point out the societal changes that were happening at that time that Houdini symbolizes.

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