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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 Kissel make in leathercraft?

2. What does the narrator say ruined a high class New Jersey party?

3. On what highway was the narrator traveling the day before?

4. What does the narrator say is always the butt of comedians' jokes?

5. What does the narrator throw down from his window on some picketers during his college days?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was the narrator underwhelmed by his summer camp experience?

2. What was the narrator able to tell about the tailgater following him yesterday?

3. Why was forestcraft so boring to the narrator and his friends?

4. What are some New Jersey highway landmarks the narrator mentions?

5. What prompts the narrator to think of his childhood summer camp days?

6. In what circumstances does the narrator find himself as the novel opens and how does he perceive his circumstances?

7. How did the fat Chipmunk earn the name of Skunk?

8. What are the rules of the contest Umbaugh suggested?

9. How were the boys initiated into camp life upon their arrival?

10. Who is Ernie and what happened to him during the narrator's story of KP duty?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Shepherd's writing style. How is he different from other writers of his time? What are some of his characteristic writing techniques? Identify some examples of his classic style in this book.

Essay Topic 2

Humor takes on an almost human persona in this story. What is this literary technique called? Cite examples that support this position.

Essay Topic 3

Shepherd wrote most of these stories with the theme of disappointment. Choose three situations from any of the stories and explain the disappointment in each. How did the narrator maintain any hope given the disappointments he always seemed to experience?

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