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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 final advice does David give to the addicted young woman for whom he buys lunch?

2. According to David, approximately what fraction of all first marriages end in divorce?

3. In what location does one side of Nic's family reunite with him for the first time since his major relapse?

4. The experts whom David consults agree that the first step toward methamphetamine recovery must be what?

5. What make of car does Nic drive?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What distinction does Sheff make between useful guilt and guilt that is not useful?

4. For what reason does Sheff warn the parents of addicted children to avoid certain music?

5. What is the symbolism of Nic's note to Jasper?

6. What observation does Nic make about the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco?

7. What element does Sheff name as "the bitterest irony of early sobriety" (228)?

8. Discuss examples of contingency management strategies that have been shown to be effective in managing addiction.

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's treatment of truth, lies, and hypocrisy within David Sheff's memoir Beautiful Boy.

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 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?

(see the answer keys)

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