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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 is Mr. Carver wearing when he arrives at Alex Mercer's home the first time?

2. What concern does Alex have about George's dating?

3. What is the consequence for Mr. Carver's mistake that night which is witnessed by Betsy and Joesphine?

4. When Phillip left his home in Memphis for New York, what is his plan?

5. What is Mother's reaction to Phillip's declaration that moving to Memphis has ruined his life?

Short Essay Questions

1. During a conversation with his mother in Chapter 2, Phillip begins to explain how the move to Memphis has ruined his life. His mother laughs at him. How does this affect Phillip and why? How does he compare his mother before and after Memphis?

2. Alex witnesses Betsy and Josephine relating stories about Mr. Carver in Chapter 6. How does Phillip describe Alex's reaction to the sisters' behavior in public?

3. Betsy and Josephine always speak to Mr. Carver and Philip about their late-night dates and whether or not they should marry. In Chapter 6, Phillip knows that this is a game the two sisters play. Are there romances for these two women? Who does Phillip realize these phantom men are?

4. Alex Mercer is Phillip's closest friend in Memphis and he corresponds regularly with Phillip in Manhattan concerning Mr. Carver. In Chapter 3, Phillip discusses Alex's position and concerns about Mr. Carver's new status as a widower and subsequent dating. What are these concerns? Why does Alex worry so much about how Betsy and Josephine will react to their father's dating some of the women in town? How does he look upon the middle aged daughters of his friend and their behavior about town concerning their father?

5. In Chapter 2, Phillip recalls a conversation between his mother and a friend of hers from Nashville. In their conversation, the woman declares "you, my dear Minta, will love Memphis." Does Phillip's mother love Memphis? How does she adjust to her new home?

6. In Chapter 2, Phillip relates the story of his sister Joesphine's experience with her serious beau, Clarkson Manning. What happens to to their relationship? What does Manning inadvertently do that changes the relationship between the two? How does Father react to Manning?

7. As Chapter 1 opens, Phillip is alone in the apartment he shares with Holly Kaplan. Why is this the case? What are the things Phillip thinks about while deciding whether to go to Memphis?

8. Phillip paints a descriptive picture of his two sisters, Betsy and Josephine, in Chapter 1. How are the two sisters similar? How do they differ?

9. Phillip visits Alex in Paris during the war in Chapter 5. Describe their time together in Paris. What happens to them on the Rue de Rivoli one afternoon?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel is set in Tennessee, a southern state. Could the author have set the novel in another location, the West or the East coast, or is this a uniquely Southern novel? Would the novel work if it were set in New York City?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Chapter 8 is a short chapter with only one hour of Phillip's story told. Yet, it is a powerful and pivotal chapter. What happens to the Carver family in this chapter? Why did the author chose to have only this one event in the chapter? Why is it so important to the story?

(see the answer keys)

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