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. How does Thomas burn the skin off his hands in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

2. In A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem, what does Oskar recall doing when dad calls on September 11, 2001?

3. How did Agnes Black Die on September 11, 2001?

4. How does Oskar respond to A.R. Black's announcement that he is quitting the search?

5. Why does Oskar agree to see Dr. Fein in Happiness, Happiness?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Stephen Hawking say to Oskar in A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem?

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

3. What can Thomas not bring himself to tell Grandma at the end of Why I'm Not Where You Are?

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

5. What does does Thomas tell his son about his and and his former wife's location at the beginning Why I'm Not Where You Are?

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

7. What major item movement happens between the sixth borough and and Manhattan as it drifts off?

8. How does Thomas, Sr. discover he has a son in Why I'm Not where You Are?

9. What does Dad relate about optimism to Oskar in the 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

The three central characters of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close have all lost someone key to their lives and are painfully lost and isolated as a result. Write an essay about each of their isolation. What is missing from their lives since the loss? How do they deal with this pain on a day to day basis, and what emotions pervade as a result? Who attempts to reach out to them and how do they respond?

Part 1) Thomas Schell, Sr.

Part 2) Grandma.

Part 3) Oskar Schell.

Essay Topic 2

In many ways, a deceased parent will always seem more attractive to the a child sees and argues with every day. Write an essay comparing Thomas Schell, Jr., and Mom, based on Oskar's attitudes toward them. How does Oskar's impression of Mom suffer as a result of Thomas's death? What resentment does he develop towards her, and how does it manifest itself? Conversely, how does Oskar remember Thomas? Do you think that his image of his father has grown unfairly perfect in memory?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the city of New York as a character in the novel. To what extent is the character of Oskar Schell making a connection with a wounded city throughout his journey? What role does his father's story of the sixth borough have in romanticizing New York on the eve of its deepest trauma? How does the key quest bring Oskar to new and different areas of a city renowned as a melting pot? In summation, what is Jonathan Safran Foer saying about the city of New York through this novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,128 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample