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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 feed the mouse in Chapter 8?

2. Where are the narrator and his friends driving in Chapter 13?

3. How old does the narrator say he is in the beginning of the book?

4. Who does the narrator say that Herman Hesse thought he was in Chapter 7?

5. How old is the character of Arthur Ma?

Short Essay Questions

1. What exposition does the narrator relay of Cody's imprisonment in Chapter 13?

2. What spurs Jack to believe he is not wanted at the cabin in Chapter 9?

3. What story does Jack relate in Chapter 6 of Hollywood? Why does the author relate this information?

4. Describe the character of Arthur Ma.

5. What does Jack tell himself and thus do in the beginning of Chapter 3? What does the driver tell him?

6. What is Jack's initial interaction with the animals around the cabin like in Chapter 18?

7. What does Jack recall of George Baso in Chapter 15?

8. How do the protagonist's feelings of himself in Chapters 1 and 2 foreshadow that which occurs later in the novel?

9. What is the purpose of Jack's and Arthur Ma's conversation in Chapter 19?

10. What quotes of Emerson does Kerouac use in Chapter 7? What do these propel the narrator to do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Kerouac's use of metaphor, simile and personification in the novel. What effect does the author create with this technique?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the ethics and philosophies of the Beat Generation as illustrated in the novel Big Sur.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the settings which are established in Big Sur. What are the major contrasts between the city and the country in this novel and what effect do those contrasts have on Jack?

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