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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 does Morecambe celebrate the coming armistice?

2. Why does Riley say that Cy needs to comfort customers?

3. Where does Cy work?

4. What does Riley admire about Cy?

5. What does the town council do to offenders of their policies?

Short Essay Questions

1. What convinces Cy that the first part of his life has ended?

2. What does Cy recall as he studies cloud formations and what might this foreshadow?

3. How does the topic of sex give Cy some not-so-great memories?

4. How does Cy's mother Reeda respond to his possible apprenticeship with Riley?

5. How does sex figure into Riley's tattoo business?

6. How does Cy's afternoon employment foreshadow his future work?

7. What marks Cy's transition from boyhood to manhood?

8. There are many instances of foreshadowing in this opening section. Name one and venture a guess as to what it could foreshadow.

9. What do you think is a boggart and how is it used?

10. Why do many women come to Riley's tattoo parlor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Part 2, "Babylon in Brooklyn," much narration is devoted to describing Coney Island. Choose one of the following and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Compare and contrast Coney Island with Cy's boyhood home, Morecambe.

2. Find all the references to Coney Island and explain the relation of this setting to two of the major themes of the book.

3. How are Coney Island and the mystique of tattoos compatible? Not compatible?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 2, "Babylon in Brooklyn," Cy views Henry as a younger, benign, redeemable version of Riley. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Compare and contrast Riley and Henry.

2. Why do you think Cy is willing to take on those who need a nursemaid in a sense? (Riley, Henry, Grace) Look at the characters in the book that Cy seems to partly "caregive" and compare how Cy treats each one.

3. Do you think Cy would have been willing to take care of Grace after her disfigurement had she been willing for him to do so? How do you think their relationship would have changed over time? Better or worse?

4. How do you reconcile the young Cy at the book's opening who abhors holding basins for ill boarders with the one who seems willing to symbolically do so?

Essay Topic 3

Grace is probably the most complex character in the book. Most readers might even say that they don't ever fully understand her or her motives. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. What is it about Grace that intimidates the soldiers in Cy's shop in Part 2, "The Lady of Many Eyes"?

2. Besides being intimidated, the soldiers are also sexually attracted to Grace. Why do you think that is true? Or do you? Which emotion of the soldiers seems stronger--fear or attraction? Is there something about their fear that actually intensifies their attraction?

3. The soldiers imply that Grace's sanity is questionable. What do you think? Is the way she treats the soldiers sane? Why or why not?

4. What do you think is the significance of Grace's action when she confronts the soldiers and licks her thumb and touches the soldier's cheek?

(see the answer keys)

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