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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. Nic admits to his father that he often dreams about what topic?

2. Randy, Nic's sponsor, buys Nic what item so that the two men can spend time together being active?

3. At what location do David and Nic agree to meet the day that Nic is very late?

4. David reports that when Z. breaks up with Nic, he is devastated, but rather than using, he takes what action?

5. When David calls the rehab facility at which Nic works, what do they report?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the definitions of priming and cuing, behaviors that can lead to relapse?

2. What are the effects of David Sheff's medical emergency?

3. What do the majority of experts recommend with regard to the length of a rehab stay and the need for after-care?

4. What major medical emergency befalls David Sheff just before Nic's eighteenth birthday?

5. For what purpose does Sheff use the shark and the cormorant simile?

6. What is the main element of twelve-step recovery programs that Nic rejects?

7. In what way is the theme of hope demonstrated in David's mention of St. Helena Hospital?

8. How much more likely are addicts to have underlying mental health issues, in relation to the general population?

9. Discuss Sheff's use of the broken suitcase image to indicate the injured nature of his post-hemorrhage brain.

10. How late is Nic when he sets a lunch date with his father at the restaurant Steps of Rome?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the significance of the final passages included at the end of David Sheff's memoir Beautiful Boy.

Essay Topic 2

How does David Sheff go about breaking the text into parts and how do these structural elements help to advance the memoir’s themes, mood, and argumentation?

Essay Topic 3

How is the theme of deception portrayed in David Sheff’s memoir? Examine the author's treatment of and messages regarding deception throughout the work.

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