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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. In Chapter 10, what does Patty do in response to Paul's comments about her thoughts on the reality of modern women?

2. What did the narrator accomplish by visiting the woman in Chapter 2?

3. In what month does the story begin?

4. In Chapter 10, what does Patty ask Spenser when he returns from dropping Paul off at school?

5. What is the first question that the narrator asks the passenger in Chapter 4 after leaving the house?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Paul arrives home, what is the reaction that mother and son both give and receive?

2. What type of person does Paul Giacomin appear to be?

3. By the beginning of Chapter 6, some time has passed since Spenser's case with the Giacomins; but, he really cannot stop thinking about the whole situation. It bothers him at a basketball game during a date with his girlfriend, Susan. What does this extended concern that Spenser shows for Paul and the discontent that Spenser feel for Patty and Mel show about Spenser's character?

4. How does Spenser diffuse the situation between himself, Buddy, and Harold in Chapter 11?

5. In Chapter 10, Patty propositions Spenser, who politely rejects her advances. The two have a fairly lengthy discussion about the event, during which we learn more about Patty's feelings of self worth. What are those feelings?

6. What does Spenser's rescue plan for Patty and Paul along with its execution show us about yet another part of Spenser's personality?

7. If you were Spenser, what would you have done differently in Chapter 2?

8. In April, after Mel's thugs try to kidnap Paul, Patty Giacomin calls Spenser for help once again. This time, she asks Spenser to protect her and Paul. Why does Patty desperately call Spenser when she experiences trouble with her ex-husband in relation to her son?

9. In Chapter 6 we are introduced to Spenser's girlfriend, Susan Silverman. What type of a person does she seem to be, and how does that contrast or compliment Spenser's personality?

10. What does Spenser's preparation of the impromptu meal in Chapter 9 reveal about his character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the course of the book, Paul learns some less than savory facts about both of his parents. He seems to handle that information well, but sometimes it can be difficult to really understand what another person is going through just by the way they look or how they talk. Using the information about Paul that we know from the text, what do you think his feelings about his parents are after he finds out their "dirty laundry"? Use examples from the text to support your ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Paul Giacomin is at the heart of this story. He is the boy whose parents fight over him as if he were property; and the boy whom Spenser fights for in order to save his life. Explore Paul's character. Look through the text and use examples from it to support your ideas in relation to the kind of a person that Paul was before he met Spenser, and what kind of a person he was when he left Spenser to go to school.

Essay Topic 3

This story takes place in Boston, and all of the characters are Boston residents. The characters in "Early Autumn" do not speak with any kind of accent, most notably the "Bahstahn" accent. Why does Parker not have his characters speak with any accents?

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