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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 does Principal Meyer tell Miles about Tick?

2. In what state does the story take place?

3. What kind of business does Miles' brother want Miles to buy in Martha's Vineyard?

4. Why is Miles a little late in arriving?

5. What does Jimmy think about as he sits in front of the Empire Grill?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Miles trying to improve the economy of Empire Falls?

2. Cite three examples of foreshadowing in Part 2, Chapter 12.

3. Describe how Zack Minty exhibits unsportsmanlike behavior and then manipulates the crowd at the football game.

4. Explain why the poison ivy is a metaphor in Part 1, Chapter 8.

5. Explain the significance of the river as a metaphor for life in Empire Falls.

6. How is Miles' good heart exhibited in the scene with a hungover Buster?

7. Explain the irony in Miles' not having driven a car before taking driver's education.

8. What is the Exacto knife and why does it signify foreshadowing for the plot?

9. What revelation does Miles get when he examines an old photo in the newspaper?

10. Why does Janine call Miles The Human Rut?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the ongoing conflict between Miles and Jimmy Minty. What is the source of the conflict? Why does it perpetuate?

Essay Topic 2

What is the role of Mrs. Whiting in the town? What is her role toward the Roby family? Why is she especially benevolent to them given the fact that Grace Roby had had an affair with her husband many years ago?

Essay Topic 3

The river becomes almost a character itself. Create a character sketch of the river complete with positive and negative characteristics.

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