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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. Where does Chick go after he wakes from his fall from the water tower?

2. Why does Chick's mother tell him she will have to take him to his ball game in Section 2: Part 1?

3. What did Posey and Len fight about most often when Chick was a child?

4. What does Posey create out of toilet paper for Chick's Halloween costume when he is six?

5. What does Posey say when Chick tells her she died?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Chick say after breakfast that causes his mother to question him?

2. What one thing does Chick recall always made his parents happy?

3. Who tells the narrator about Chick Benetto?

4. What offends Chick when a man calls his mother a divorcee?

5. Why does Chick Benetto drive toward his home town?

6. When is the first time Chick's mother leaves him a special note?

7. Why does the narrator say the story belongs to Chick Benetto?

8. Why is the word please carved into the side of tree?

9. What did the narrator later find belonging to Chick Benetto that was used in writing this book?

10. What word did Chick's mother help Chick find the definition for despite his father's disapproval of her help?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the narrator. Why does the narrator not tell the reader who she is at the beginning of the novel? Why does the narrator suggest she has only just met Chick Benetto when in fact she has known him her whole life? Who is the narrator? What role does the narrator play in Chick Benetto's attempted suicide? What caused the narrator to play this role in Chick Benetto's suicide? What changes in the narrator's relationship with Chick Benetto between the death of Posey, the near death of Chick Benetto, and Chick's telling of this story? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Posey. What is Posey's real name? What is her profession? How does Chick feel when he learns that his mother cleaned houses to help pay for his college tuition? Why is Chick surprised by this? What does this choice say about Posey and her love for her children? What does this choice say about Posey's life after her divorce? Why did Posey stop working as a nurse? What does that say about Posey's morals? About the morals of others? Why did Posey never remarry?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following in detail, including examples from the novel:

1) Lessons Chick learned after spending the day with his dead mother

2) The time period in which the novel is set and how that might have influenced the behaviors of characters in the novel, both main characters and minor characters

3) The tone of the novel, including any changes to the tone that might take place as the plot continues to develop

(see the answer keys)

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