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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. How often does the narrator say his family uses the extraexclamation point?

2. What did the speaker's father say to his children after the argument with the stranger as he held his hand to his heart?

3. What was the speaker's grandmother listening to in the car in the example he uses of the unxclamation point?

4. What shape symbolizes the silence mark?

5. What topic typically results in willed silence on the part of the speaker?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the insistent question mark? When is it used per the speaker's example?

2. When does the speaker most often use the willed silence mark?

3. Which member of the family uses the pedal point most with the speaker? Why?

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

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

6. What do we learn of the speaker's family health history in the first paragraph? Describe the context.

7. 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?

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

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

10. 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.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Foer’s focus on the theme of familial communication as presented in the story.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay comparing and contrasting the speaker and his father in "A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease." What details help develop their character and what do these details tell you about them? How do they interact? In what ways are they similar or different? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay examining the Holocaust as a symbol in "A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease." In what scenes is the Holocaust mentioned? What is the context? How does this develop the narrative?

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