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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 kind of doctor was going to perform surgery on Price?

2. What has Reynolds Price's health been like, up to this point?

3. How did Price's social circle change as he continued with radiation therapy?

4. What is Marcia Bennett's relation with Reynolds Price?

5. What did Reynolds Price begin to feel after the anesthesia wore off?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Price say his relationship with Jesus changed throughout the course of his cancer treatment?

2. Describe Price's condition when he emerged from surgery.

3. How did Reynolds Price's health begin to change?

4. What does Price say he asked for the morning after he heard the voice tell him what kind of suffering he would have to endure?

5. What did Price's doctors recommend for the next step after surgery?

6. What does Price say was most difficult about the early weeks of radiation therapy?

7. Describe Price's stay with Marcia Bennett.

8. What does Price say he had to do, before he asked Marcia Bennett about staying with her?

9. How athletic was Price?

10. What was "The Eel"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Use this book as a meditation on the value of a five-star rating system. Is a five-star system sufficient to a book like this? Would you need to have sub-topics for the rating system, for plot, characterization, language, etc? What other sub-topics would you need? What value or importance gets lost in a five-star scale? Design a scale that would be better for this book.

Essay Topic 2

Describe Price's family and community as they are described in the book. How close are they? What are their core beliefs? How did Price fit in with them? Well, or badly? Using examples from the text, describe Price's relationship with the people who were close to him when he became sick.

Essay Topic 3

The AIDS epidemic began in the U.S. in 1981, only a few years before Price's illness. How does the spectre of AIDS appear in the book, and how does Price handle the panic and dread that comes from a possible death sentence (even though his condition was quite different from AIDS)? Are there thematic similarities with AIDS patients, that give AIDS a resonance in "A Whole New Life"?

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