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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 Mother tell Paul when he asks how to be lucky?

2. What is Ascot?

3. How does Barrett know what to bet on?

4. What disintegrates shortly after Mother gets married?

5. Why doesn't Barrett answer all of Paul's uncle's questions about Paul?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mother feel about her children?

2. Why is Paul so interested in horse racing?

3. Why does Oscar take Paul to the horse races?

4. What does Joan tell Oscar about Paul?

5. What is Paul's main motivation in life?

6. What does Mother do to try and make her children happy?

7. What is Oscar addicted to?

8. What is strange about Paul's first bet at the horse races?

9. What does Mother consider her biggest mistake?

10. When does Barrett make his biggest bets?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role did money play in this short story, and do you agree with the message the author was trying to send through this inclusion of the theme of money?

Essay Topic 2

Which character did you relate with the most in this book? Why is this? How did this character change throughout the book?

Essay Topic 3

How does Paul die, and what led to his death?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 571 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample