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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. About whom does Riley lecture Cy?

2. What does Cy think Riley may have done while being attacked?

3. What amazes Cy?

4. How does Jonty describe Mr. Riley?

5. What is a key to the customer's personality?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Cy's first interest in a girl and why it is disappointing.

2. Describe the type of clients that are often drawn to Riley's tattoo parlor.

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

4. What upsets the town council and what is Reeda's response?

5. What indication is there that "times are changing" even in a small town such as Morecambe? Why do you think this is so?

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

7. With what does the young Cy struggle?

8. What are some of the contrasting images seen in the very beginning of this book?

9. What does Riley tell Cy about Michelangelo?

10. How does Cy's apprenticeship fare and what is an important lesson Cy learns?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are several metaphors throughout the book, Electric Michelangelo, perhaps one of the most striking is that of Grace and her tattoos. Choose one of the following and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Define metaphor and symbolism and compare the two using specific examples both from the book and other sources. Which do you feel is more effective? Which seems better at expressing the idea of an abstract concept? Why would you use one over the other--give specific examples.

2. For what do you think Grace's body is a metaphor? Explain using specific examples. Does the metaphor work for you?

3. Write a real or hypothetical situation in your personal experience that includes one or more abstract concepts and then create a metaphor to express that experience. Next, choose a way to use symbolism in the telling of the experience. Which way seems more effective at portraying the experience?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 2, "Babylon in Brooklyn," Cy meets Artura and Claudia Overas.

1. Compare and contrast Cy and Artura.

2. Compare and contrast Grace and Claudia.

3. Why do you think Claudia has a larger role in the novel than Artura, who is after all, a tattoo artist like Cy and it is a book predominantly about tattoos?

Essay Topic 3

In Part 2, "Babylon in Brooklyn," the game of chess is introduced by the idea that chess is Varga's passion, and participants do not maintain European manners, but play viciously and inconsiderately. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. What characters are most involved in chess? How are they involved? Give examples.

2. Cy thinks he can understand who Grace is by understanding how she plays chess. Is he successful? What does he learn about Grace from her chess-playing style?

3. Grace is playing chess when Sedak assaults her. How is chess symbolic of this assault? Does Sedak achieve checkmate? Does Grace and Cy later achieve checkmate? Explain.

4. Why do you think Chess is so important in a novel which is predominantly about the world of the tattoo parlor? Do chess and tattoos belong together somehow?

(see the answer keys)

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