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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. Part II begins with an epigraph from which play by William Shakespeare?

2. Charles's friends from home earn money by smuggling what substance in from the Yucatan before selling it?

3. When Nic calls David after missing curfew and disappearing for a while, where is he?

4. How does Nic get out of jail the first time he is arrested?

5. When David was still a young child, his family moved from Massachusetts to what state?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the themes of secrecy and deception emerge within the memoir's introduction?

2. How does David react when Nic offers him a hit of a marijuana joint when they are out on a walk together?

3. What positive effects of marijuana does David describe in his own life?

4. How does David react when he finds a baggie of marijuana in Nic's room?

5. Describe the setting depicted in the introduction.

6. What is the first altercation between David and Nic about Nic's use of substances?

7. Which of Nic's childhood heroes commits suicide?

8. How does David Sheff characterize his friend Charles?

9. What is the strongest evidence of Nic's negative feelings about his parents' divorce?

10. What is the cause of David's resentment toward Nic, even though David knows that he has an illness?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read the interview included in the back of David Sheff's memoir Beautiful Boy. Write an essay explaining the connection between one of the author’s answers and a major theme presented within the text.

Essay Topic 2

What ultimate message is David Sheff's memoir Beautiful Boy sending about the state of the drug rehabilitation industry in America?

Essay Topic 3

How does Sheff's use of the first person point of view serve the author's purposes over the course of the memoir Beautiful Boy? Discuss how the author's choice of point of view helps to advance the treatment of at least three particular themes within the text.

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