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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 does Andy name as the trick to being a successful prosecutor?

2. Andy states that all lawyers feel the same way about the court system. How does he say lawyers feel about the court system?

3. What object does Andy go to retrieve from an upstairs bedroom in Ben's family's house?

4. Andy states that "A good marriage drags a long tail of" what "behind it" (25)?

5. What is NOT listed as a reason that Jacob hardly ever uses the telephone?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Neal Logiudice?

2. What is the symbolism of the look of distaste on Laurie's face when Andy takes her hand in the courthouse elevator?

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

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

5. What is the clue that points most markedly to Jacob's involvement in Ben's murder?

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

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

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

9. 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?

10. What major realization about life does Andy describe arriving at as a result of meeting Laurie in college?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's use of foreshadowing within the novel Defending Jacob and the effects of its use on the reader.

Essay Topic 2

Write a critical essay about the novel while using the critical power theory lens of psychoanalytical theory. Use textual evidence to back up your strong, specific claim combining research about applying psychoanalytical theory to a text with concrete details from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

How is the topic of family bonds treated within the novel and what does the author want the reader to understand more fully about family relationships as a result of reading the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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