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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. Who offers the narrator a reference when he returns to the office?

2. What image of their mother does Michael keep in his memory?

3. From whom has the narrator obtained the invitation?

4. Who is on the phone when the narrator gets back to his apartment?

5. Where does the narrator wake up in the morning?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is the significance of the rolls of bread?

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

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

6. Why does Megan invite the narrator to dinner at her apartment?

7. What catalysts are responsible for the narrator rising early, reading the paper, and arriving on time to work?

8. What exhibit in the museum is the narrator's favorite?

9. What kind of relationship did the narrator have with his mother?

10. What does the reader learn about Megan's past?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the narrator's elitism.

1) How has the narrator's love of fiction contributed to this elitism? Why does he feel he must alter the truth about his job to strangers?

2) Why is the narrator so concerned with being "in" rather than "out"? How much of this fear drives his friendship with Tad Allagash?

3) Could his need to be one of the elite have contributed to his relationship with Amanda? Why or why not?

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 the missing person poster.

1) Why is he so affected by the missing person? In what ways does he feel similar to the missing person? Specially, talk about his relationship with his family.

2) If the narrator were to post a missing persons sign, who would be on the sign? Why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 708 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample