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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where do Alex, Phillip and Mr. Carver go after leaving the church?
(a) To a neighborhood bar for a beer.
(b) Back to Mr. Carver's home.
(c) To the airport.
(d) To Alex's house.

2. How do Mr. Carver and Mr. Shackleford greet each other in the restaurant?
(a) They mumble hello and ignore each other.
(b) They embrace.
(c) They shake hands and smile.
(d) They begin arguing.

3. What message does Phillip draw from his father's behavior in the car?
(a) Mr. Carver counted on his two companions not to take his silence personally.
(b) His father might not recover from this.
(c) Things were going to be just fine.
(d) His father was suicidal.

4. What do Betsy and Josephine tell Phillip in Chapter 8?
(a) He can use the room in the cabana out back.
(b) His bed is ready in Father's study.
(c) He may sleep in his old room at the top of the stairs.
(d) He will have to sleep on the sofa in the living room.

5. How does Phillip describe himself and Holly?
(a) "Stubborn."
(b) "Lucky."
(c) "Free spirits."
(d) "Old bags."

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Phillip travel to meet his family for a weekend get together?

2. What is happening at Mr. Carver's home?

3. In Chapter 8, what is one thing Phillip imagines his father will do next?

4. Where does Phillip allow Alex to park his car?

5. Why do the Carvers move from Thornton to Nashville?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 9, Phillip gives us a glimpse of Holly's life. How do we learn about Holly and how she fits into her family?

2. When Alex arrives in Memphis in Chapter 7, he sees his father waving to him from the runway. Describe Father's behavior upon seeing Phillip. What is happening that day? How does his father appear to Phillip?

3. While flying to Memphis in Chapter 7, Philip thinks about his course of action with his sister who he fears are planning vengeance on their father. What does Phillip want to convince the sisters to do?

4. In Chapter 10, how does Lewis Shackleford see his friend, George Carver? What traits does he admire in his friend?

5. When Mr. Carver dies in Chapter 12, Holly's father also dies. The two of them return to New York after the funerals, and continue their lives together there. Phillip describes them both as "serenely free spirits." What has caused him to characterize himself and Holly in this way?

6. In Chapter 12, Phillip begins calling his father on a weekly basis. Why are those calls important to Phillip?

7. In Chapter 11, Phillip puts together the story of his family's intrusion into his father's love affair with Clara Price. What does he realize, and how?

8. In Chapter 10, Phillip comes to a realization about his father and the move to Memphis. What does he decide regarding his father's move with the family to a new city to begin again?

9. In Chapter 9, Phillip visits Holly in her apartment in the hopes of a reconciliation. What do the two of them talk about for the first time openly and honestly? What has happened in Holly's life during their separation?

10. During the drive from the church to Mr. Carver's home in Chapter 8, Phillip begins thinking of what his father might do next. What things does he think are possible? Why does he believe his father might do any of them?

(see the answer keys)

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