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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. How long do Frank and Alan work on the Hardmann Roe case?

2. What does Nan say is the cause of her life "made up of disappointments" (32)?

3. On the night of Brenda's party, how long has Alan been in New York?

4. What is a logical inference about who "Hopie" is?

5. What is the one thing that Frank advises Alan he should not let his wife take in the divorce?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Nan Christie, and what is her relationship to Frank?

2. What major event happens in Alan's life at Christmastime the year that Frank meets Nan, and how does Alan feel about it?

3. What is "Hardmann Roe," and what role does it play in shaping Frank's and Alan's careers?

4. In what way is Alan's reaction to Nan different from Frank's?

5. Explain the meaning of this metaphor used on page 23: "They were in the last rank of the armies of law."

6. How does Nan react when Frank tells her his theory about the difference between men and women?

7. What does Frank tell Nan is the difference between men and women?

8. What angers Frank so much at the bar and restaurant called "Jack's'?

9. What is the story that Nan Christie tells Frank about trying to find someone to date and marry?

10. What is similar and what is different about Frank's and Alan's fathers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read some passages of Ernest Hemingway's writing and read about what critics view as the hallmarks of his style. Then, write an essay in which you compare and contrast his style with Salter's. Use quoted textual evidence from both Salter and Hemingway to support your claims, and cite sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that makes a claim about the purpose of including Alan in the story--why not just make the story about Frank, and leave Alan out entirely? Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

In an early discussion of Alan's father's legal career, the narrator notes that “No defendant was too guilty, no case too clear-cut” (25). This leads to public disdain for Alan's father, but shortly afterward the reader sees the man himself in action, defending a black man in front of a bigoted jury. Reread this section of the text and then write an essay that considers how Alan's father functions as a metaphor for Salter himself and for his style of writing without sentimentality of the circumstances surrounding the immoral action of having sex with a minor. Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

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