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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 do Miss Fern and Miss Roberta do to the Green Machine?

2. How does Tom feel as he and his mother approach the ravine?

3. Which of the following characters is the conductor of the trolley?

4. What surprise does John have for Douglas?

5. Where do Miss Fern and Miss Roberta hide?

Short Essay Questions

1. Name two examples where Douglas tried to cling to something in order to control destiny or change.

2. How and why is Colonel Freeleigh a real time machine, though not a mechanical contraption?

3. What does the Green Machine offer to Miss Fern and Miss Roberta that is suddenly taken away after the accident?

4. What is the overall tone of the opening of this novel and why do you believe that is the case?

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

6. How do Tom's fears come to surround him, make him feel, and expand into his imagination?

7. 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?

8. How did Helen overcome her exasperation at the children not being able to accept the fact that she was once young?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do characters throughout the novel use their imagination to make themselves happier? Use specific examples from the novel to support your answers. Do you believe this is a healthy way to live? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Death is an ongoing issue which must be dealt with throughout the novel. Describe the similarities and differences between how the children dealt with death and how the adults did. Make connections between this and your own personal experience.

Essay Topic 3

What powerful recognition does Douglas come to at the end of the novel? How is this recognition important? What does it represent in his life?

(see the answer keys)

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