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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 going to replace the trolley?

2. What happens when Leo tries the machine himself?

3. What summer ritual do Douglas and Tom take part in?

4. Where does the trolley conductor take the boys on the last day the trolley is to run?

5. How many parts does Douglas decide to keep track of his summer in?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe how Douglas feels as he completes the task for his grandfather and describe what the tasks are.

2. How does Leo rationalize to a displeased Lena that the Happiness Machine is a necessity?

3. What ruins Douglas' zest for life and desire to take in every new detail?

4. What does the beating of the rugs symbolize to Douglas and Tom both?

5. In what ways was the fact that change is difficult for children reinforced in this section of the novel?

6. What revelation does Leo come to after the Happiness Machine burns?

7. How does Helen Bentley attempt to prove to the children that she was indeed once a child?

8. How does Douglas convince the shoe store owner to give him the new shoes and how does this process help the shoe store owner himself?

9. Which brother seems more like the father and in what way do they seem to be the same?

10. What new revelation does Douglas come to by dividing up his summer?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe in detail the changes Douglas undergoes throughout the novel. Use specific details from the novel to support your description. Do you believe the changes were for the positive? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Kinship and personal connections are often explored throughout the novel. How and why is this an important part of the novel's themes? Do you agree with the way the author portrays these concepts? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

How are the themes of man and nature developed throughout the novel. Use specific examples from the text to support your statements. Do you believe the author does a good job at developing these themes? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 676 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample