View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Grandma refuse to share with Thomas in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

2. What becomes difficult for childhood friends in The Sixth Borough?

3. How fast is the Sixth Borough drifting away from New York in the story?

4. Which of the following questions is not one that Oskar asks himself as he imagines a 9/11 type scenario in Alive and Alone?

5. In his letter in A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem, what does Stephen Hawking admit wishing that he could be?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Oskar Schell meet Thomas, Sr. at the beginning of Alive and Alone?

2. What is the living arrangement between Grandma and Thomas in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

3. What is happening in Dad's fourth message?

4. How does Oskar's presentation go at the beginning of Happiness, Happiness?

5. What decision does Oskar make at the end of Alive and Alone?

6. Describe Thomas's experience during the bombing of Dresden.

7. How does Oskar overcome a phobia in Alive and Alone?

8. What does Oskar tell Thomas, Sr. over the course of Alive and Alone?

9. What is revealed by the long jump at the beginning of The Sixth Borough?

10. What does Thomas learn immediately before the bombing of Dresden begins?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a story about interconnection. Oskar Schell's search of the key's lock is an egalitarian one, crossing different boroughs, socioeconomic groups, and life experiences. Write an essay about three of the Blacks Oskar meets in his quest. How is this person's experience different from his own? What about this person's life is compelling to Oskar? What questions does he ask, and in the end how is his life richer for meeting this person?

Part 1) Abby Black.

Part 2) Abe Black.

Part 3) Ada Black.

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)

This section contains 1,265 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample