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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. Where is the Blue Moon?

2. What tone infects Betsy's written description of the people with whom her father is night clubbing?

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

4. What sports do the girls take up in Memphis?

5. Who is the first person Phillip meets at his new school?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. In Chapter 4, Phillip describes meeting Alex Mercer. How does Phillip meet Alex and how does their friendship grow? What do each represent to the other?

3. Phillip is in New York in Chapter 3 and receiving letters from Alex, Betsy and Josephine about Mr. Carver. How does Phillip react to his father's dating? How does he respond to his sisters' treatment of Mr. Carver both in public and private? Why does he take the position he does? How does he respond to Alex's concerns?

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 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?

6. 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?

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. 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?

9. In Chapter 3, Phillip describes how Betsy and Josephine settle into their lives in Memphis after their failed engagements. He speaks with some pride about their accomplishments. What are those accomplishments? What type of life have Betsy and Josephine made for themselves in Memphis?

10. In Chapter 4, thirteen year-old Phillip introduces us to his first serious girl friend. Who is the young girl he falls in love with and how does he describe her? What develops in their relationship, and how does it end?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

The novel is not written in straight chronological time. How does the author deal with the element of time in the novel? Is it effective?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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