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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 is the book that Kilgore skims through during the drive about?

2. What does Dwayne ask Kilgore when he finally walks over to his table after The Narrator speeds up the novel's pace?

3. What does the literature Kilgore is reading say about free will?

4. What can the reader do, according to the literature Kilgore is reading?

5. What is one of Dwayne's talents that allows him to understand the message Kilgore gives him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the book the driver describes having read that Kilgore realizes is one of his own novels about?

2. What do Kilgore and the driver drive by in West Virginia and who was it founded by?

3. What does Grace, Harry's wife, tell Harry he should do regarding his job at Dwayne's dealership?

4. Why did Dwayne send his son, Bunny, to a military school?

5. What is the conflict that Dwayne might have with his twin brothers, Lyle and Kyle?

6. What does Dwayne do to Francine on his violent rampage?

7. What is the parallel between Dwayne's irrelevant phrases and the narrative?

8. What is the book, Now It Can Be Told, that Kilgore reads in the car about?

9. Why does Bunny not fight back when his father, Dwayne, assaults him in the hotel lounge?

10. Why does The Narrator place himself in the hotel lounge scene?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

During their drive, the truck driver tells Kilgore about a book he read (which turns out to be by Kilgore) involving a roulette wheel that determines the value of art. How does the plot of this book play into the plot of Breakfast of Champions? Is there a connection? Support your answer with specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

How is Wayne looking at the people in the hotel lounge through the kitchen's peephole in Chapter 19 similar to exactly what the reader is doing with Breakfast of Champions? What are the events Wayne is watching? What is their significance? Insignificance? Support your answer with specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, numerous coincidences are mentioned linking characters, places and events. Describe several of these coincidences and argue whether they are significant to the narrative, or trivial. How do they affect the narrative? How do they affect characters? Do they not affect anything at all? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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