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 the narrator in Chapter 2, in what year did Sportcoat move to New York?

2. According to the narrator in Chapter 2, what bad omen occurred at Sportcoat’s birth?

3. The brawl in Chapter 10 is started when Izi throws what object?

4. How does Sportcoat save Deems’s life in Chapter 3?

5. According to Sportcoat in Chapter 12, with whom is he really arguing all the time?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Rufus? What does the reader learn about him in Chapter 8?

2. How do the various residents of the Cause attempt to explain the shooting in Chapter 1?

3. Who is Bunch Moon? What does he think about Deems in Chapter 6?

4. What does Joe Peck ask the Elephant in Chapter 11? How does the Elephant respond? Why?

5. How did the red ants come to the United States, as revealed in Chapter 7?

6. What is a mojo? How is the word “mojo” a fitting title for Chapter 12?

7. Who is the Governor, and what does he ask of the Elephant in Chapter 5?

8. How did Deems become a drug dealer, as revealed in Chapter 7? What was the result?

9. How was Sportcoat’s childhood an unhappy one, as revealed in Chapter 2?

10. Who is Deems? What information does the reader learn about him in Chapter 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The antagonist of a novel is a character or force who works in opposition to the protagonist. Who is the antagonist of the novel? Deems? Bunch Moon? Haroldeen? Perhaps the antagonist is not a person at all. What do you think? Make a case for that which you believe best fits the criteria of an antagonist.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay defining friendship from the perspective of Sportcoat and Hot Sausage. What is friendship, according to these characters? How do the choices they make reflect these values?

Essay Topic 3

In what ways is the novel a celebration of diversity? Evaluate the role of diversity in the novel, using textual evidence for support.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 819 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample