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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why was Rick so nervous about his Fellowship interview?
(a) His friends told him he was not cut out for it.
(b) He wanted it more than anything he had ever wanted.
(c) His editor told him he was a shoe in.
(d) It was a test to him to see if he belonged in educated society.

2. What does perfume on a hog reference to in the chapter of that title?
(a) Educated and Uneducated.
(b) The North and the South.
(c) Rich and Poor.
(d) Harvard and Rick.

3. What was different about Thanksgiving in the new house?
(a) Rick got his own bed.
(b) Mark came sober.
(c) Momma had guests.
(d) They all got to sit together in one room.

4. What did Sam ask from Rick in return for his staying behind in Alabama and Rick going out into the world?
(a) For Rick to tell him the stories of where he had been.
(b) For Rick to call Mark every six months.
(c) For Rick to be home every year for momma's birthday.
(d) For Rick to send money for momma.

5. What did Rick say that men did instead of rioting?
(a) They played football.
(b) They danced.
(c) They listened to loud music.
(d) They watched dog fights.

6. What story did Rick write about in Clearwater that marked him forever?
(a) About Siamese twins.
(b) About a woman who dies twenty years after her attack.
(c) About poachers.
(d) About a man who married his daughter.

7. What did Rick say about his mother's attendance at his wedding?
(a) He thought she was too frightened.
(b) He wished she had been there.
(c) He had never seen her so dressed up before.
(d) He wished she had worn nicer clothing.

8. Who picked out momma's new house?
(a) Rick and momma did.
(b) She did.
(c) Rick, Sam and momma did.
(d) Momma, Uncle Ed and Aunt Nita did.

9. What did Rick claim as the highlight of his stay in Tampa?
(a) A story about a chicken named Mopsy.
(b) The hurricanes.
(c) A surfer named Topsy.
(d) A serial killer.

10. What kind of questions did Rick often find himself answering to the students at Harvard?
(a) Questions about the South.
(b) Questions about racism.
(c) Questions about Haiti.
(d) Questions about his stories.

11. What happened to Rick when he was out on the boat in the Everglades?
(a) He was tricked into taking pictures of gators.
(b) He was led to believe that they were fishing for gators.
(c) He was bitten by a gator.
(d) He fell into the water with the gators.

12. How did Rick try to buy his way into heaven?
(a) By buying his girlfriend a car.
(b) By buying his brother a business.
(c) By buying his ex-wife a baby carriage.
(d) By buying his momma a pair of dentures.

13. What did Sam let Rick do when they finally went fishing?
(a) Bait the line.
(b) Reel in the fish Sam caught.
(c) Cook the fish.
(d) Tell momma Rick caught the fish.

14. Why did Rick quit college?
(a) He did not like it.
(b) He can't handle the work load.
(c) He did not feel like he is learning enough.
(d) He got a job as a reporter.

15. What did Rick do at the old little house that momma did not?
(a) He spit on the ground.
(b) He cried when she leaves it.
(c) He rejoiced that they are gone from it forever.
(d) He walked it one more time.

Short Answer Questions

1. What had Mark been doing since his fight with Sam?

2. What happened in 1991 that Rick got to experience that terrified him deeply?

3. What did Rick keep as a reminder of the night he went out on a dangerous story with Sean?

4. How big was the property of momma's new house?

5. How long did Rick work for the L.A. Times?

(see the answer keys)

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