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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. On the day that David runs late for the hospital, what lie does David tell his father?

2. What memory does David have upon walking into his grandmother's home?

3. David's grandmother is very hard on Stan. Why is David angry about her lack of patience with Stan?

4. Who is David's "bunk buddy" in the Air Force?

5. How does David impress the recruiting officer while filling out his Air Force enlistment papers?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did David deal with his Mother's abuse as a child?

2. What does David's mother mean by "All I've done for you" when talking to David?

3. Why is David so upset about his father being in the hospital?

4. Why is David afraid of the nurse reporting the abuse to the authorities?

5. What is the only way that David knows how to deal with his father's death?

6. Why does David not understand the reason for his mother's abuse?

7. Why is David's grandmother upset with his brother Russell?

8. David's grandmother denies abusing his mother. What did his grandmother do to her daughter as a child?

9. Describe the nightmares that David has during basic training.

10. Why is David sweating while on the plane to San Antonio?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

David feels a lot of inadequacies in his relationships with others. Choose one of the following people from the novel and discuss David's feelings of inadequacy regarding that person. Why does he feel these inadequacies? What fuels these inadequacies for David and the individual chosen? Are the inadequacies played upon by the individual in the relationship with David?

-Patsy

-Marsha

-David's mother

-Stephen (his son)

-Any of his brothers

-David's first manager Jerry

Essay Topic 2

Describe the importance of David's son Stephen. Why is Stephen so important to David? Why is David willing to sacrifice everything for his son? Is this David's way of showing the world that he is not a "bad person?" How does Stephen save David?

Essay Topic 3

David tells readers about a time in his childhood when he was ready to die. Why do you think he was finally ready to give up? What finally snapped in David? Given all of the abuse, why was he willing to let his mother finally win and kill him? Or would she really be winning?

(see the answer keys)

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