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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 envy of Montesanto's?

2. In Chapter 1, who does the narrator say he was hiding with in San Francisco upon his arrival?

3. What is the narrator carrying in Chapter 3?

4. What does the narrator crawl through as he travels the road in Chapter 3?

5. Who does Jack curse himself for returning to the cabin with later in Chapter 5?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways does the narrator reflect upon the history of Big Sur in Chapter 7?

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

3. What do the descriptions in Chapter 3 relate about the protagonist?

4. What is Jack's reaction to learning his cat has died?

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

6. How does the protagonist view the cliffs and his surroundings in Chapter 4?

7. How does Jack describe the nature surrounding him in Chapter 3?

8. What animal does Jack encounter in Chapter 4? How does he describe this and the landscape?

9. In Chapter 5, how does Jack's relationship to nature change?

10. How does the narrator feel about himself in the end of Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the defining elements of Kerouac's style. How does he approach grammatical rules? In what time frame did he complete his works?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Lorenzo Monsanto and Ben Fagan. How are these two characters similar in their friendship with the protagonist? How do they differ?

Essay Topic 3

Define the term "Roman a clef." Is this a style, genre, or form? Why is it used? How does it apply to Big Sur?

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