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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 is the last line of the Prologue?

2. What does Rick hope his story will accomplish?

3. What did Rick tell his first girlfriend about his family?

4. What made Rick finally write the book?

5. What memory does Rick recall of his grandmother and himself when he was five?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the area like and what were the people like where Rick and his parents grew up?

2. How poor was Margaret while raising her small children?

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

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

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

6. What was the relationship like between the brothers?

7. Why didn't Margaret find another man to continue her life with as time passed and Charles did not return?

8. What male influence did Rick and his brother's have in their lives?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rick protected his mother from the horror stories that he wrote about. What was his motive behind this decision? Was it the right decision? Did he do it for himself ultimately or for her?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the quote found on page 98: "But what really kills you on that other side are the people--the smiling, care-free people--who can just as easily look over into your side, and turn their face away." Explain it in terms of the memoir and the truism in life.

Essay Topic 3

Compare Rick and his brothers to an average American household. How were the boys the same as others? How were they different? Mention not only material items but how they thought about themselves and how others thought about them.

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