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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. What is Grace's attacker's plan?

2. What does Cy do when he visits Maximus?

3. What happens as Grace lies in the hospital?

4. What seems preordained in Cy's way of thinking?

5. How can Cy draw mermaids?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Cy stay open on rainy days and describe one such day.

2. How does Cy first meet Grace?

3. Describe the first few days that Cy spends at the hospital.

4. What does the narrator say about the light in Brooklyn?

5. Why do you think Cy returns to Pedder Street in Morecambe?

6. How does Grace send Eva's ghost packing?

7. How does Claudia become to have so many tattoos and to what does that lead Artura and Claudia?

8. What does Cy think he sees in a neighboring apartment that makes him question his sanity?

9. Describe the last image in the book and what you think is its meaning.

10. How does Cy compare Coney Island to Morecambe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

In part one, "Bloodlights," there is imagery surrounding the color red and blood; the basins of red expectorant; the blood from abortions; the red of the Aurora Borealis lights. Since even in this chapter most readers know that the story is about a tattoo artist, red seems to be a compelling color to wrap around the novel. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Follow the images of blood and the color red that occurs throughout the novel and interpret the individual images and then write an analysis of the symbolic meaning of the color red and blood.

2. Write an essay on the use of symbols in this book. Choose three symbols that seem important and discuss their significance and meaning, using specific examples. How does the use of the symbols enhance your understanding of textual meaning? Or does it? How would the text change if the symbols were not used?

3. Write an essay on the use of symbols in our everyday life. Choose several symbols that seem universal to American culture and discuss their significance and meaning. Why are symbols used? Are they a sort of shorthand to express concepts? Use specific examples.

Essay Topic 3

As the novel opens and then moves along to its conclusion, some characters seem to change more and some seem to stay the same. 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 the character of Cy from who he seems to be during the first half of the book to the person he seems to be in the latter half. How is he alike? How different? Which "person" do you like the best? Why? How is Cy more alike and more different from Riley at the end then at the beginning?

2. Compare the character of Grace from who she seems when she is first introduced to how she seems after her hospital stay. How is she the same? How different? Which "person" do you like the best? Why? Has she changed more or less than Cy in the course of the novel?

3. Compare and contrast Riley, Claudia, and Reeda from who they seem to be when they are first introduced to who they are revealed to be by the end of the story. How much do they change or become who they really are? Or do they change? Who did you like at first and then dislike by the end of the story--and vice versa?

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