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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 did Stavros do when he was shot the second time?

2. What does Robby advocate for in the postscript?

3. Where does Robby plan to go, after Chicago?

4. Who ratted Robby and his guys out?

5. Where does Cecil go after traveling with Robby?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is it about the prison workers that makes John mad?

2. How does John characterize his revision to Robby's story.

3. Describe Robby's travels after the robbery?

4. What do Robby and his crew do after the robbery?

5. How does John describe Robby's drug deal in Detroit?

6. How did the botched job feel wrong from the start, according to Robby?

7. How does Robby characterize his career in fencing operations?

8. How did Robby come to believe that Stavros had a gun?

9. How did Robby and his crew get assistance on the night of the robbery?

10. Describe Robby's graduation.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the genre of Wideman's book about his brother? Analyze the text and make an argument. Is it a memoir? A piece of advocacy? Journalism? History? Literature? Novel? A biography? Is it dated by its material, or is it timeless?

Essay Topic 2

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

Essay Topic 3

How does John characterize his brother? What literary techniques does he use to bring his brother to life as a literary character? How does his characterization change throughout the course of the memoir, as he writes one draft and then another? What does John learn about himself and his brother in the process of trying to capture this story in writing?

(see the answer keys)

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