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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 Oskar excuse himself to A.R. Black's bathroom in Heavy Boots - Heavier Boots?

2. In The Only Animal, what does Oskar say elephants may have?

3. Which Beatles song does Oskar recall his father whistling?

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

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. Why does Grandma get samples of letters as a child in My Feelings?

2. Describe Oscar's interplay with Gerald Thompson in What The?

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

4. How does Thomas Schell's silence affect his living situation?

5. Describe Thomas's decision to leave Grandma in Why I'm Not Where You Are.

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

7. What happens to Oskar when he arrives home on September 11, 2001?

8. What happens in the airport in My Feelings?

9. How does married life become a series of negotiations for Grandma and Thomas Schell, Sr. in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

10. How does Grandma find Oskar 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 character of Grandma. To what extent is she portrayed as woman who beholds all the pain of the world and continues to love? Who does she lose over the course of the novel, and how does she lose each of these loved ones? What fear does this create in her? Discuss in a paragraph how her relationship with Oskar allows her to continue on in the face of heartbreak and loneliness. Who returns to her in the end of the novel, and how does she react?

Essay Topic 3

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a novel told largely from the point of view of Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old living with his mother on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His life before the September 11th attacks was sheltered; after the attacks, he is consumed with anxieties he must overcome. Write an essay about three new experiences he has in the novel and how they affect him:

Part 1) When Oskar Schell begins his search for the key's lock, his first subject is Aaron Black of Corona. How is his journey into Corona an entirely new experience? Has he ever been to Queens before this point? What does he notice about Aaron Black's apartment building that is different from his own?

Part 2) When Oskar goes to Abe Black's place in Coney Island, he is suddenly compelled to do something by Abe that scares him. What is this action that terrifies Oskar? What essential fears stemming from his father's death does this action represent for Oskar?

Part 3) Discuss how Oskar Schell's interaction with Ruth Black represents his most extreme confrontation with the anxieties created by the September 11th attacks. What is he afraid of as he goes to her apartment? What thoughts consume him, and how does he deal with them?

(see the answer keys)

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