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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 redbird do that makes Rick question life?

2. What did Rick and Uncle Ed both acknowledge early on about Rick's future?

3. Why did Rick love his 1969 convertible so much in high school?

4. What does Rick hope his story will accomplish?

5. What did momma lecture Rick about on the rare occasions that she lectured?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the main reason for Rick writing this memoir?

2. 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?

3. When did Rick choose to write this memoir and why?

4. Why does Rick say that anyone could write this book? Is that true?

5. What was the relationship like between the brothers?

6. Why was Rick one of the usual suspects after a crime was committed, and how did he react to the whole situation?

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

8. How did Rick react to his father's death?

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

10. What was the Korean War story that Charles told to Rick?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

What are Rick's views about religion? Where do they come from? How do they affect him emotionally? What does he understand that he is missing?

Essay Topic 3

What drew Rick to spend his life writing stories about human tragedy? Did writing these types of stories resolve his inner issues? What did he learn about life from these stories?

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