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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. Who is in charge of finding the three children?

2. What does a man pick up from Holmes' hotel later that night?

3. Where does Prendergast go in the Prendergast chapter?

4. What does Holmes seek to hear in his victims?

5. What is the name of the asylum to which Olmsted is admitted?

Short Essay Questions

1. What eventually happens to the Ferris wheel?

2. What eventually happens to Holmes?

3. How does Holmes seduce Georgianna?

4. What eventually happens to Burnham and his wife?

5. What happens to George Ferris?

6. Why does the New York editor want his fellow editors to apologize to Chicago?

7. What do the police find in Holmes' hotel?

8. Describe the first test runs with the Ferris Wheel.

9. What is Holmes's plan in the Independence Day chapter?

10. How does Holmes react to Geyer's finding the bodies?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the characters in the book and examine his/her real life. How does Larson represent him/her in the novel? Is this an accurate representation of the character?

Essay Topic 2

The novel is set mostly in Chicago.

1) What meaning does Chicago bring to the novel? What would you automatically presume about a novel that was set in Chicago?

2) How different do you think today's Chicago is to the Chicago in the novel? How do you think the novel's meaning would change if it were set in today's Chicago?

3) How do you think the Chicago settings of the novel contributes to the novel's dark tone?

Essay Topic 3

How was Chicago different in the 1880's to what it is now? What kind of people lived there and what sort of jobs did they have? In what ways did the exposition make a big difference to the city?

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This section contains 650 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample