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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 made Jane see that her Christmas gift was not, in fact, special?

2. What event of Jane’s did the Phelpses show up to protest?

3. How often would Adam work with Evanson?

4. Why does Jonathan say that he and his friends could not actually go anywhere when he lived abroad?

5. What does Jonathan say his parents drank to ignore?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways did Adam and his friend shift their aggression into the realm of language?

2. How does the narrator characterize Darren as a roller skater?

3. What is the one situation that holds numerous times together in the “New York School” chapter?

4. How does the narrator characterize the interaction between Adam and Jane and the Phelpses on the way to Jane’s keynote address?

5. What explanation does Jonathan give for why his parents and the diplomats drank so much in Taiwan?

6. What is the difference between extemp and Lincoln-Douglass debate?

7. How did Jonathan’s relationship with Sima begin?

8. Who are the Phelpses and what was their relation to Jane Gordon?

9. Where did Darren walk to, and where did he end up, before he got a ride home?

10. What was Jonathan’s relationship with Donna Selkie like, and what made is awkward?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the weakest part of this novel? Of the different weak sections, which gives you the most insight in to the author’s theory of what a novel is, and what it ought to do? How would you have suggested strengthening these weak passages?

Essay Topic 2

Where is the emotional heart of The Topeka School? Is it centered in power, or meanness or fairness or kindness? What are the main centers of the novel, if there is not just one? What is the relationship between the emotional centers of The Topeka School? How does the book define the relationship between its centers?

Essay Topic 3

Make a graphic representation of the action, development, and progress of The Topeka School. Then explain your work: what are the best variables by which to chart the book’s movement? What comes forward in a graphic representation that might be lost in an analytic paper?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,080 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample