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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. What does Phillip do with his sisters' letters describing his father's nighttime activities?

2. What does Phillip do with the gift he had plans to give to Clara but does not?

3. Who does Mr. Carver confide in when he wants to block Phillip from marrying his girlfriend in Chattanooga?

4. What does Alex regularly urge Phillip to do?

5. How does Phillip react to his sister's descriptions of their dates and their love affairs?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the end of Chapter 1, Phillip gives a detailed explanation of how the family's move to Memphis affected every member of the family. Who appears to have handled the transition the best? For whom was it the hardest? Discuss the impact on each of the four children and Mr. and Mrs. Carver.

2. In Chapter 5, Phillip reminisces on his failed engagement. What happens between Phillip and Clara Price? Compare his experience with that of his sisters.

3. When Phillip describes Memphis in Chapter 2, he paints detailed pictures of the city of his adolescence and the one he encounters during his adult visits home. He also compares Memphis to Nashville. How has the city of Memphis changed in Phillip's opinion? How do the two cities still differ?

4. In Chapter 1, the narrator begins the story with an explanation of the perils of a widower with middle-aged children,dating. What is the major issue faced by the widower? What examples of this situation does the narrator provide?

5. In Chapter 3, Phillip talks at length about what his sisters have done for both himself and his brother, Georgie. What have they done for their brothers to help them in their lives? What have they potentially sacrificed by helping their brothers in this way? How do the two women continue to take care of their father after the boys leave home?

6. In Chapter 5, Phillip leaves his father's home and moves to New York City. How does he manage this? Why does he choose New York? How does his family react?

7. As Chapter Six opens, Phillip describes the way his sisters are treating their father. How are the sisters behaving now that Father is dating?

8. In Chapter 3, Phillip paints a picture of his parents and his two sisters living in Memphis and their conversations about dating and the men they are both seeing. How does this appear to him when he is home visiting? How do Betsy and Josephine behave in front of their parents? What is the topic of conversation much of the time Phillip is visiting? How do the elderly Mr. and Mrs. Carver respond to their middle-aged daughters' banter?

9. In Chapter 5, Phillip tells the story of the pendant. What is the significance of four leaf clovers in the love affair between Clara and Phillip?

10. In Chapter 6, Betsy describes one evening at the Blue Moon when Mr. Carver arrives with a group of six people all of whom are much younger than he. What happens that evening to Mr. Carver?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 5, Phillip's mother says to him, "Don't be so hard to please, son. Sometimes the second choice is better than the first would have been." Has this proven to be true for Phillip? Is Holly, the second choice, better suited to Phillip than his first choice, Clara? Take into account all you have learned in the novel about Tennessee life, the Carver family, and Phillip himself.

Essay Topic 2

Phillip realizes his father did not consider how the move to Memphis would affect all members of the family. Was the move to Memphis the only thing to affect the Carvers? Was there another factor at play, one much more dramatic than the move, that actually changed the course of everyone's lives?

Essay Topic 3

The three surviving Carver children never marry. Discuss each character's attempt at marriage and how the attempts are foiled by Father. What kind of men do Betsy and Josephine choose? How are they similar? How are they different? How do these men both fit into the social character of the Carver family?

(see the answer keys)

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