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. What does he have to say in the phone call?

2. What did the narrator do on his first day of school?

3. What is the narrator's punishment for failing in his duty?

4. What suspicion does the narrator accidentally give the bartender?

5. What relationship of Megan's surprises the narrator?

Short Essay Questions

1. What elements of the fashion show does the narrator find contemptuous?

2. How does Michael's reappearance change the narrator's demeanor?

3. What is the narrator's reaction when he sees his brother waiting on the stoop?

4. Why does the narrator leap out of the limo to escape his conversation with Bernie, the drug lord?

5. Why is a home-cooked meal such a novelty for the narrator?

6. Why does the narrator go to the party with Tad?

7. How has the narrator gotten the ticket for Amanda's fashion show?

8. Why does the narrator opt to take Megan's valium?

9. What happens when the narrator and Amanda speak?

10. Why does Michael say he never liked Amanda?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do a character analysis of Clara Tillinghast. Include:

1) Her professional background.

2) Her attitude toward the narrator, both past and present.

Describe the scene where she fires the narrator. How does she react when he essentially steals her thunder? Does she get angrier that he is not upset?

Essay Topic 2

Explain Vicky's concept of "ineffability." How is this concept appropriate for the narrator's view of his life and the people in it? How is Vicky an appropriate mate for the narrator, whereas Amanda was not?

Essay Topic 3

The narrator is obsessed with Coma Baby.

1) How are the dilemmas of the Coma Baby similar to the narrator's own?

2) In his dream about Coma Baby, what role does the narrator take on?

3) How are Coma Baby's mother and the narrator's mother parallels?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 700 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample