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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kind of world does the narrator note that Swede has naturally incorporated himself into?
(a) Poor.
(b) Wasp.
(c) Wealthy.
(d) Jewish.

2. Where does Merry meet political people and take on a secret life as a teenager?
(a) New York.
(b) Massachusetts.
(c) New Jersey.
(d) Connecticut.

3. What does Rita say Swede has to do for her if he wants to see Merry in Chapter 4?
(a) Give her money.
(b) Travel with her.
(c) Buy her a house.
(d) Have sex with her.

4. Whom does Swede remember watching on TV and has an imaginary conversation with in Chapter 4?
(a) Rita Cohen.
(b) Joy Helpern.
(c) Angela Davis.
(d) Dorothy Dwyer.

5. How is Rita's hair described in the book?
(a) Stringy.
(b) Straight.
(c) Bushy.
(d) Blonde.

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is Nathan as he prepares a speech for his high school reunion in the book?

2. What is the name of the black worker at Swede's factory that stays with him during the riots?

3. What does the narrator tell Jerry that the nostalgia of the reunion is least likely to present to explain why he came?

4. Whom does Swede fail to call after Rita threatens him?

5. What does the narrator meet with Swede to write about near the end of Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Merry's bombing in her hometown at the end of Chapter 3 described?

2. What does the narrator say about the neighborhood's reason for idolizing Swede?

3. What does Nathan say his working from home saves him from when talking with Jerry at the class reunion?

4. How is Rita's first visit to the glove factory described?

5. How are the adolescents in Nathan's neighborhood described in Chapter 2?

6. What does Swede remember about when Merry watched monks on TV?

7. What reason does Nathan give Jerry for coming to the reunion?

8. Swede reads about bombs over five years after Rita's visit that remind him of Merry. How are they described?

9. What is the nature of Nathan's conversation with Ira at the high school reunion?

10. Describe Nathan's interaction with his old girlfriend Joy at his class reunion.

(see the answer keys)

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