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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. For what does Cy get in trouble at school?

2. Who does Cy recognize?

3. What confuses Cy?

4. What is different about Cy's mom from Cy?

5. For what does Cy use the last of Reeda's money?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Riley tell Cy about Michelangelo?

3. Describe Riley's death and Cy's response.

4. What is the effect of alcohol on Riley?

5. With what does the young Cy struggle?

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

7. How does Cy slip into starting to tattoo instead of just watching Riley and what is Riley's response?

8. Describe Cy's first encounter with Riley.

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

10. Describe the type of clients that are often drawn 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," 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 2

Near the very end of the book after Cy has returned to Morecambe, he takes on an apprentice, Nina Shearer. 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 Nina's behavior as an apprentice to Cy's behavior as an apprentice.

2. Compare and contrast Riley's teaching methods to Cy's teaching methods.

3. Discuss how effective Riley and Cy's teaching methods are and Cy and Nina's learning methods are and the strengths and weaknesses of each. To which teacher would you more likely be similar? Which apprentice?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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