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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. Who in Grandma's family begins a mental collapse as the war approaches?

2. What does Grandma say she wishes she could do near the end of My Feelings?

3. Where is Grandma when she writes the letter in My Feelings?

4. As she watches images of the Towers falling, what does she say she is full of?

5. Which of the following functions is not one that the narrator of Why I'm Not Where You Are uses his old books for?

Short Essay Questions

1. What two ways does Oskar communicate with Grandma in Googolplex?

2. How does Oskar Schell fare in his first jujitsu class?

3. How does Grandma begin to alienate Thomas Schell in My Feelings?

4. What is the purpose of the drain system Oskar imagines in Googolplex?

5. What do Abby Black and Oskar Schell talk about in The Only Animal?

6. What does Oskar do with the key in this chapter?

7. What surprise awaits Grandma the day of her son's funeral?

8. Describe Thomas Schell's first meeting with his future wife?

9. How does Grandma find Oskar in My Feelings?

10. How does Grandma convince Thomas to marry her in My Feelings?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The end of the novel is a strangely happy one, though it does not contain anything that concretely resolves the conflicts of the novel. Write an essay about the ending of Oskar's narrative and what it means to him and to the reader:

Part 1) What is the resolution of the quest of the key? Discuss why William Black would need the key and why Dad had it in a vase. Does this resolution, in the end, offer anything illuminating to Oskar Schell regarding his father? How was the journey to this resolution more important than the destination?

Part 2) What understand do Oskar and his mother reach in the final chapter of the novel? What single request does he make of her and what concession does he give regarding her happiness? Does she make any concrete promises him regarding the future?

Part 3) Discuss the fantasy that ends the novel. What alternate reality does Oskar create for his father, beginning with his picture in the Stuff That Happened to Me book? How does this provide the novel with a bittersweet happy ending?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the marriage between Grandma and Thomas Schell, Sr. How do they find their way into each other's lives and to what extent does the tragedy of Dresden's demise play a central role in bringing them together? Chart the progression of their relationship in America form reconnection to courtship and through their marriage. How does the development of rules lead to the eventual end of their marriage? What happens when he returns to her?

Essay Topic 3

The plot of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is riddled with absent fathers. Write an essay about the prevalence of absent father figures, focusing on the primary father-son relationship in each othe two primary story-lines. What is the reason for each father's absence? How does each father communicate with his estranged son on a daily basis without actually doing so? In summation, discuss what happens when the estranged father figure of one narrative meets the orphaned son of the other. How do they interact?

(see the answer keys)

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