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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. Why does America require voyeurism in every attraction?

2. Why does Cy skip lunch the next day?

3. What does Grace describe in graphic details to the soldiers?

4. What does Grace's paper show?

5. What happens as Grace lies in the hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Cy remember Grace?

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

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

4. Give a physical and psychological description of Claudia.

5. How does Cy compare Coney Island to Morecambe?

6. What secret of Claudia's does Grace hold?

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

8. When Cy is somewhat inebriated in Vargas, he makes what connection between Grace and his mother and how does he react to that connection?

9. What does Cy think about Coney Island and how do you interpret that?

10. What is the connection between the game of chess and Grace?

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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