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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 did the women of Brownsville expect to receive from the drugstore owner?

2. Mr. and Mrs. Solovey had children, what were their children?

3. What did the author want more than anything?

4. What did the author experience when reading the words of the little blue book?

5. Why did the author daydream of Mrs. Solovey?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the author would play games with his friends, he would usually hide in the monument works. What was significant about the monument works?

2. What are the details the author remembers most about the drugstore?

3. How does the author describe summer in Brownsville?

4. What did the author spend much of his time doing when he wasn't reading or in school?

5. What led the author to fantasize about Mrs. Solovey every night before bed?

6. What did the author do after the other boys had gone inside and why?

7. What was the reaction of the person who read the author's final high school paper?

8. Who were the two colorful women the author remembers in great detail?

9. Why is the idea of "beyond' so important to the author?

10. Where did the author's walks take him when he walked to the edge of Brownsville?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the second section, the author is given a nickname by his father. This nickname deeply affects the author. With specific examples from the text, please describe how it touched the author and how his view of his father changed at that point.

Essay Topic 2

A continuing theme in the book is of light and darkness, both literal and metaphorical. Please give examples from the book how this is portrayed. What other ideas could be connected to the idea of light and dark?

Essay Topic 3

In the narrative, the author continually describes his struggle with feeling like an outsider. The author also talks about how he tried to escape being an outsider.

Part 1) Have you ever felt like an outsider?

Part 2) What ways have you discovered help you not feel like an outsider?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 943 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample