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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 Henry's father criticize Henry for not doing?

2. Where does Henry promise to take Gertrude?

3. What is Gertrude's room full of?

4. What does Henry fetch for someone at the bar?

5. Who do Henry and the blond listen to before they go to bed?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Martha upset Henry in the second section?

2. Describe Henry's first two days in New York.

3. How does Billy-Boy help Henry in the third section?

4. What does Henry do while drunk with his friend, Tim Hunter?

5. What bet does Henry make in the opening chapter?

6. Summarize the second section.

7. How do Henry's friends help him in the third section?

8. Why does Henry decide it is time to go back to Los Angeles?

9. How does Willie's death affect the girls?

10. What does Henry do in El Paso?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the values of the 1940s.

1. In what ways are the characters a product of their time?

2. How does the book express the changes America was going through at the time?

3. Does modern society share any values with 1940s America?

Essay Topic 2

What does Bukowski express about liberty in his novel? In what ways are Bukowski and his career an example of American liberty?

Essay Topic 3

How does Bukowski represent alcoholism in his novel? How does Chinaski's habit affect his daily life? What kind of person would Chinaski have been without the alcoholism?

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This section contains 705 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample