View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Jack think he can find to blackmail Judge Irwin?
(a) He knows that the Judge has money in Cayman banks.
(b) He knows that the Judge has an illegitimate child.
(c) He knows the dirt about the Judge's divorce.
(d) He does not think he can find anything.

2. How is Dolph Pillsbury connected to the troubles with the brick kiln?
(a) Pillsbury used to make bricks for the kiln company.
(b) Pillsbury is a major investor in the kiln business.
(c) Pillsbury's brother-in-law owns the kiln and Pillsbury is suspected of getting kickbacks on the school job.
(d) Pillsbury used to do the accounting for the kiln company.

3. Who steps in and offers blackmail as a tool to help White?
(a) Governor Stark
(b) Judge Irwin
(c) Tiny Duffy
(d) Former Governor Stanton

4. Which political faction covertly backs Willie's campaign?
(a) The Stanton faction
(b) The Harrison faction
(c) The MacMurfee faction
(d) The Irwin faction

5. Who takes over as Jack's father after Jack's father leaves?
(a) Grandfather Burden
(b) Mr. Stark
(c) Governor Stanton
(d) Judge Irwin

Short Answer Questions

1. How can Willie be confident in his position?

2. Cass and his brother, Gilbert, and sister, Lavinia, were born in poverty in what state?

3. What kinds of stories are surfacing at the newspaper office, The Chronicle?

4. With whom has Willie been having an affair?

5. Why is Willie's wife, Lucy, leaving Willie?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the nature of Anne Stanton's depression?

2. What negative trait of Willie's is verified by Willie's behavior in the White impeachment scandal?

3. What does Anne give Jack as her reasons for having the affair with Willie?

4. How do Willie's problem-solving tactics emerge after his son, Tom, has a car accident?

5. What is the reason that Willie's wife, Lucy, is leaving him?

6. Jack is not the only character undergoing a radical shift in perspective. What happens to Willie after the football game injury which paralyzes his son, Tom?

7. What role did Judge Irwin play in Jack's childhood?

8. How does the author begin the story in the present time of 1936?

9. How does Judge Irwin react when he sees Jack and Willie at his home?

10. What is Willie's reaction when Judge Irwin refuses to support a man Willie has chosen for a senate nomination?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,015 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample