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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. When Jared is mean to Sebastian during their first visit at Jared's house and Sebastian tries to leave, what stops him?

2. What kind of plan does Sebastian tell Jared he has when he sends an email accepting Jared's offer to a position in Jared's band?

3. When Nana opens her eyes and speaks to Sebastian just before he leaves the hospital the day of her stroke, what does she say?

4. What does Nana hope her modification of the geodesic dome will achieve?

5. Nana tells Sebastian that he can be just like Buckminster Fuller and can help people become what adjective?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Nana's past predictions about Sebastian's path contrast with her pronouncements about him after her stroke?

2. How do Nana's first comments to Sebastian in the hospital foreshadow coming events?

3. What comment from Sebastian causes the rest of the car ride home from youth group to be spent in uncomfortable silence?

4. What character traits of Jared's are displayed during the scene of Nana's stroke before the ambulance arrives?

5. What is the significance of Sebastian's secret password for the computer in the dome?

6. What is the significance of the scene in which Jared shows his scar?

7. How do Sebastian's train of simple postscripts in his emails to Jared intrigue and draw Jared in to a friendship?

8. What does Sebastian notice affixed to Jared's Mp3 player when Janice is driving him away from the hospital and what does it signify?

9. What reason does Jared give for naming Napoleon as the first punk rocker?

10. What is the significance of Sebastian's first experience in a record store?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the many instances of irony within the novel's narrative and analyze the author's purpose for including each instance you discuss.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the relationship between Jared and Janice. In what ways is this mother-son relationship dysfunctional and what does the author appear to suggest as the key to making a dysfunctional relationship into a healthier one?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author's use of foreshadowing within the novel and its interaction with the themes of prophecy and clairvoyance.

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