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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 NOT change in Rick's parents' world as the times change?

2. What did Aunt Mary Jo take the children out for to eat?

3. What war was Rick's father in?

4. What payment was most likely used for the doctor who helped give birth to Rick's mother?

5. What happened in the country store when Rick went in to buy drinks while working one summer?

Short Essay Questions

1. What story did Rick tell about his cowboy boots?

2. Why did the boys feel so out of place in their new home that their father moved them to when Rick was six?

3. How did false pride become an obstacle for Rick as a teenager?

4. What does Rick choose to believe about his father's neglect and abuse of his family?

5. How did Rick feel about his high school years as he looked back on them?

6. Why does Rick state more than once that this is not an important book?

7. What kind of work did the boys do for their Uncle Ed? What did Rick learn from this work? What did Sam learn from this work?

8. What kind of an extended family does Rick have?

9. Why does Rick miss his grandmother's death?

10. What were the times like when Rick grew up? Where was he born? When?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the historical implications of the book. How does the time and place create the lives and the choices of the people in the book?

Essay Topic 2

How did the Nieman Fellowship and the Harvard education validate Rick? What was he looking for validation for? Did it change him? How so?

Essay Topic 3

The Susan Smith story made Rick feel hatred for the hopelessness of it all. What did he see as hopeless? What did Susan see in comparison? What lesson does Rick wish that he could have taught her before she killed her children?

(see the answer keys)

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