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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. According to the narrator, Saul Pilgrim is the only person who will ______________.

2. What happens to Sam in mid-summer?

3. How does Henny escape from the house?

4. What had Sam brought back from Malaysia in the crates?

5. What does Henny snap at when she is in a foul mood?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the reading of David Collyer's will.

2. How does Sam react when Louie tells him that she killed Henny?

3. How do the Pollits end up in Spa House?

4. How does Sam react to the birth of a new baby?

5. What does Sam do on account of Jo's news?

6. Describe the children's reaction to the marlin Sam brings home.

7. What is it that upsets Sam during his homecoming celebration?

8. What leads up to Henny's death?

9. How is Henny replaced?

10. Describe Henny's fight with Louie.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, Louie's character reveals aspects of other characters, in their meanness or friendliness to her. How does Louie's murdering Henny change how characters see her?

Essay Topic 2

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

Louie keeps a journal and writes down her own version of the story the narrator is ostensibly telling. How does this narrative within a narrative complicate or clarify our understanding of the story? What other gestures of self-awareness are there in the book? Do the characters ever seem to be aware of being characters? Does the author reveal herself and speak directly to the reader? What is the role of writing, in itself, in 'The Man Who Loved Children'?

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