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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. What does Phillip do two days after returning to New York?
(a) He calls Alex and says he cannot come to Memphis.
(b) He asks Holly to travel to Europe with him.
(c) He begins a series of weekly phone calls with his father.
(d) He writes a letter to his father about his sisters.

2. How is George Carver regarded by the townspeople?
(a) He is a spoiled brat.
(b) He is born under a bad sign.
(c) He is born under a lucky star.
(d) He is raised without manners.

3. How does Phillips find he identifies with his father one evening?
(a) They are both tired of Betsy and Josephine's meddling.
(b) They are both lonely in their surroundings.
(c) They are both growing old.
(d) They are both unmarried.

4. What is Alex's plan for Phillip as the two men drive to the airport?
(a) Phillip should move to Memphis and live in the house with his father.
(b) Phillip should marry Holly Kaplan and leave Manhattan.
(c) Phillip should take his father away from his sisters and bring him to New York.
(d) Phillip should move to Memphis and donate his rare book collection to the college.

5. What news does Mr. Carver have for Phillip?
(a) He is getting married.
(b) He has earned a great deal of money on an oil well.
(c) He has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
(d) He has lost his desire to marry anyone.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Phillip realize about Holly?

2. Where do Alex, Phillip and Mr. Carver go after leaving the church?

3. How does Phillip react to his sisters when inside the house?

4. How are Betsy and Josephine dressed when Phillip and Father walk into the house?

5. What does the family decide to do together on Phillip's last day together?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. In Chapter 8, how does Phillip react to his sisters' actions? How does Alex react?

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

5. In Chapter 11, Phillip allows Alex's car to remain in the driveway which blocks his father's car from exiting. What debate might be waging in his mind while he delays his father's departure?

6. 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?

7. 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?

8. 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?

9. At the end of Chapter 12, what does the reader know about all of the main characters?

10. In Chapter 12, Phillip gives the four leaf clover pendant to Holly. How does she respond? What does Phillip know from her response?

(see the answer keys)

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