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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. How much does Lewis offer each Griner brother to drive their cars to Aintry?

2. What camping equipment do Ed and Dean play with in the living room the morning Ed leaves on the canoe trip?

3. What does the Kitt's model do during the photo shoot that gives Ed a deep male thrill?

4. What kind of business does Ed Gentry own with a partner?

5. What memory does the sight of a red-and-white drive-in reawaken in Ed as he and Lewis drive past it?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does Ed believe is Lewis' best friend?

2. Why does Drew want to bring his guitar on the canoe trip?

3. Why does the Aintry sheriff's deputy react so negatively to the men's story?

4. In the After section, why does Ed go to Bobby's room at Biddiford's?

5. On the second day of the canoe trip, why does Lewis rearrange the gear to lighten Ed and Bobby's load?

6. How do the police in Aintry verify the truth of the stories of the men?

7. After finding the body of the man he shot and realizing he might have shot the wrong man, how does Ed feel?

8. At the luncheon, why does Ed think Bobby and Drew won't take the canoe trip?

9. When the locals arrive with a gun while Ed and Bobby are resting, what does Ed think is the reason for their accosting Bobby and him?

10. As Lewis and Ed drive to Oree, how does Lewis describe the lifestyle of the people in the hill country?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This is the story of Ed's transformation from a man drifting through life into a man of action. Write about one of the following:

1) Trace how the author accomplished that transformation through the events that happened to him, telling how his decisions at these moments contribute to his transformation and to his actions afterward. If he had made other decisions, how would those differences affect the structure of the novel?

2) The title of the novel tells its theme, which is followed through several strands of the story. Give at least two ways the title describes what happened to characters in the novel and explain your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

Sex is a theme that recurs throughout the book. Discuss at least three places in the novel where the author uses sex as a tool to advance the plot or build characters. Describe some of the scenes in which sex plays an important part and explain how it is used in each scene and how the use of sex in that scene advances the plot or deepens the reader's understanding of the characters involved.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the importance of the sheriff to the story. How does he differ from the rural Southerners the main characters met during their canoe trip? What about his actions and conversations point out those differences? How does the author use him to symbolize a type of Southerner that is neither the typical suburbanite represented by the main characters nor the rural Southerners who attacked them. Cite other examples of Southerners met briefly on the canoe trip who may fit this third character type.

(see the answer keys)

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