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. According to Deborah, in the last month ______ refrigerated trucks have been reported stolen.

2. How long has Dexter been dating his girlfriend?

3. Who unexpectedly calls Dexter in Chapter 13?

4. Dexter realizes that ______ likes him.

5. The narrator is wearing all of the following in Chapter 1, except for which?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Dexter's dream in Chapter 7. What literary device is the author using through this dream?

2. Why are Dexter's co-workers surprised to see him at the crime scene in the beginning of the novel? What is Dexter's reaction to this news? Explain.

3. What is cell crystallization? How is it relevant to the murder victims?

4. For what reason does Dexter say he does his job? Does he do it to catch the bad guy?

5. How does Dexter feel about killing and in what way does killing satisfy Dexter? How does killing affect his "dark schemata"?

6. Who makes an arrest in the Tamiami Trail Killer case? Why does this person think they have the right suspect?

7. What does Dexter do on his date with Rita that upsets her? What is Dexter's reaction to the situation? What is he thinking about?

8. What object is sitting on top of the package of body parts found in the goalie's net at the ice rink? Who is the object left for? Why?

9. Describe Rita. Who is she to Dexter? How is she the perfect girlfriend for Dexter?

10. Why does Dexter go out for a drive in the middle of the night? What is he hoping to find?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pick a character from the novel in which a character's success in achieving goals depends on keeping a secret and divulging it only at the right moment. Briefly explain the necessity for secrecy and how the character's choice to reveal or keep the secret affects the plot and contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze how a stereotyped character or characters in Darkly Dreaming Dexter function to achieve the author's purpose of the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the significance of the title Darkly Dreaming Dexter and analyze how it is developed throughout the novel.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 785 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample