View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator say he has never had with any member of his family?

2. Where was the narrator and his family during the only instance he recalls use of the extraexclamation point?

3. How many heart attacks does the speaker say his family has "and counting" (1)?

4. What were the speaker and his father discussing on the phone when the silence mark was used as per his example?

5. What was the weather like when the narrator's grandmother was driving him somewhere in the example he uses of the unxclamation point?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the unxclamation point symbol? What does it denote and when was it used per the speaker's example?

2. How does the speaker describe his relationships with women?

3. How does the speaker's father engage with the angry man in the example he uses of the extra exclamation points?

4. How often does the speaker say the extra exclamation points are used in his family? Based on your understanding if his family, is this surprising? Explain.

5. What does the silence mark symbolize? How often does the speaker say it exists in his family's history?

6. How did the exchange between the speaker's father and the stranger end? What conclusion did the father come to in regards to his handling of the situation?

7. What symbol indicates the willed silence mark? What does it signify?

8. What conversation does the speaker use to exemplify the silence mark? To whom is he speaking? What is the subject of their conversation?

9. What symbol represents the extraexclamation points?

10. What do readers learn of the grandmother's life in the first paragraph? Describe the context.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Genre is a category assigned to a literary work, like a story. What are some genres that could be used to classify the story? What is the main genre of the story? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing narrative voice in Foer of "A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease." Include thoughts on how the narrative voice of the story is effective in conveying the story’s themes.

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think Foer chose to write about the lack of candor in familial conversation by way of punctuation marks? How does this impact the themes of the narrative?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 717 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample