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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. Who provides instructions to the hundreds of volunteers gathered at the park ten days after Ben's murder?

2. What guarantee does Andy provide to Laurie the day before Jacob's school reopens?

3. Where does Jacob claim to have gotten the military knife?

4. What position does Andy hold at the time Ben's body is discovered?

5. Andy says that though he does not yet know the identity of Ben's murderer, he feels a certain way about him already. How does Andy feel about Ben's murderer?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the meaning of the epigraph for Part One of the novel.

2. What qualities of Jonathan Klein's does Andy find reassuring?

3. What action does Dan Rifkin take against Andy once Jacob comes under suspicion?

4. How does the author use Jacob's relationship with the telephone to indicate Jacob's lack of comfort with intimacy?

5. Discuss one coping mechanism Andy uses to get through Jacob's murder trial.

6. How is the motif of dreams and visions present within Chapter 3?

7. Discuss one statement that Andy makes under oath and then names as a deception to the reader.

8. How does William Landay use the changed relationship between Andy and Duffy to indicate Andy's profound sense of isolation following Jacob's indictment for murder?

9. How is the email address of the mysterious link-sender used to demonstrate the major theme within the text?

10. How is the theme of deception depicted within Andy's conversation with Sarah in Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the symbolism of the single fingerprint stamped on the young murder victim's sweatshirt and explain the purpose the author has in mind for its inclusion.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the author's use of a confessional tone in relating the narrative of Defending Jacob.

Essay Topic 3

What is the novel's message concerning violence and the human condition?

(see the answer keys)

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