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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 stories did Rick write for the St. Petersburg Times while living in St. Petersburg after the Fellowship?

2. Why did Susan Smith kill her two boys?

3. What story did Rick write about in Clearwater that marked him forever?

4. What change was made at the NY Times in Rick's first article?

5. What did Louis Bolivar make seven days a week in Haiti?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Rick never drink alone?

2. What experiences did Rick have in Miami?

3. What were the details of the stories that Rick told about the bodegas in New York City?

4. Why did momma move out of the new house?

5. At the early age of twenty where was Rick writing and what was he writing about?

6. What gifts did Rick give his mother after he became a successful journalist, and what gift did he want to give his mother? How did he feel about these gifts?

7. What was momma's new house like and how did she and everyone else react to it?

8. What did Rick learn in Birmingham as he worked for the paper?

9. Why did Rick hate Haiti?

10. How did Mark's life affect momma and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

After the riots in Miami, Sean kept the rock as did Rick for a while until they couldn't keep it any more. What is the significance of the rock? What made them keep it? What made them get rid of it?

(see the answer keys)

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