View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what location does David fly after finding out about Nic's overdose?

2. What make of car does Nic drive?

3. When David asks the wireless operator to trace the location of Nic's cell phone, what is NOT a city she reports to him?

4. What branch of the Hazelden closes in December of the year in which Nic is in treatment?

5. From what location had Nic been calling when he contacted a particular person during his long period of being missing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Sheff mean when he calls addiction an "equal-opportunity affliction" (177)?

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

3. What distinction does Sheff make between blame and accountability?

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

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

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

7. For what purpose does Sheff use the allusion to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the theme of family bonds portrayed in David Sheff's memoir Beautiful Boy? Examine Sheff's treatment of and messages regarding family bonds throughout the book.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the paradoxes inherent in the struggle against addiction and analyze how Sheff portrays these paradoxical elements within the memoir.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the motif of sound within David Sheff's memoir Beautiful Boy.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 912 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample