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

2. Whom does the man that tells Nathan he wrote a paper for him in school say his life was changed by?

3. Nathan's friend Alan is the son of what?

4. Whom does Merry ask Swede to kiss her like when they are returning from a seaside cottage in Chapter 3?

5. What religion does Swede practice?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Merry begin doing in New York as a teenager?

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

5. How is Jerry described at the beginning of Chapter 3?

6. How does the narrator describe the post-war energy of his neighborhood in Chapter 2?

7. What does one doctor say about Merry's stuttering in regard to her perfectionist family?

8. What does Nathan reminisce about regarding his high school memories while preparing a speech for his reunion?

9. What is Nathan fascinated with in regard to his childhood culture?

10. What happens when Merry asks Swede if he would kiss her as he did her mother when she was a young child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the portrayal of the Jewish neighborhood in the book. What importance did this culture have in Nathan and Swede's upbringing and future?

Essay Topic 2

One of the major factors to create Merry's militant actions is the impact of Swede's kiss to Merry as a child.

Part 1) What is telling of Merry based on her request that her father kiss her like he would her mother?

Part 2) What about Swede's sudden pullback after he had kissed Merry as a child could have caused her militant behavior later in life?

Part 3) What about Swede's inability to understand the impact his kiss had on Merry suggests he is unable to relate to others in his life?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast Jerry and Swede. What is significant about the personality and moral differences in these two characters?

(see the answer keys)

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