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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 can Cy draw mermaids?

2. What is the largest amusement park on earth?

3. In what condition do they find Sedak?

4. Why does Cy stay at the hospital?

5. What is Grace doing as Cy is finishing with the soldier?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why does tattooing survive change?

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

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

6. When Grace is out of the hospital and visits Cy, how is her body described and how does Cy respond?

7. What does Grace want from Cy and why do you think she wants it?

8. What are Sedak's motives in attacking Grace?

9. Give a physical and psychological description of Claudia.

10. Do you think Sedak deserves what they do to him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The characters in Electric Michelangelo are the central focus of the novel; in other words, the characters drive the plot rather than the other way around as is the case in some novels. 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. Write an in-depth character analysis of Cy Parks. Include a physical description, personality traits, and what beliefs motivate him. What do you like and dislike about this character? Why? Give specific examples.

2. Write an in-depth character analysis of Grace. Include a physical description, personality traits, and what beliefs motivate her. What do you like and dislike about this character? Why? Give specific examples.

3. Choose three other characters besides Grace or Cy and write about them in relationship to both Grace and Cy. Are they friendly or hostile to either main character? Explain with examples. What is their purpose(s) in the story?

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

In Part 1, "Salvaging Renaissance," Cy thinks that every stage in the passage of life leaves physical mementos and that tattoos can be briefly upsetting, but eventually they become just part of the anatomy. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. What do the above thoughts mean to you? Do you believe the ideas to hold truth?

2. When Cy thinks that eventually tattoos become just part of the anatomy, do you think he is suggesting that tattoos have little lasting value? If so, how does he value his work?

3. If tattoos record life's moments, why do you think some people go through much pain and expense to have a tattoo removed later?

(see the answer keys)

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