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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 Chick consider the worst day of his college career?

2. What does Chick say when his mother asks about his wife, Catherine?

3. What does Rose say is the only part of her that is still young?

4. What is the day that Chick wanted back?

5. What did Miss Thelma do for the Benetto family when Chick was a little boy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What explanation does Posey give to Chick about how people are dying call her to their sides?

2. What job does Chick learn his mother did in order to help pay his college tuition?

3. What do Posey and Chick talk about over dinner?

4. Why does Posey suggest Len got involved with this second woman while he was in the war, even though he was already engaged to Posey?

5. Why was Posey fired from her job as a nurse?

6. Why did Chick not want his mother to go to his dorm room with him?

7. What did Marie write in the memory book at her grandmother's funeral?

8. What does the Italian woman say when she catches sight of Posey and Chick in her mirror?

9. What does Chick admit embarrassed him about his mother as a child?

10. What metaphor did Posey often use for the death of her patients when she was a nurse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss ghost stories. Why does the narrator suggest this novel might be a ghost story? Is this novel a ghost story? Who are the ghosts? Are they scary ghosts? Is this novel meant to frighten the reader? Explain. How do the ghosts in this novel change the course of the main character's life? Is this a good change?

Essay Topic 2

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

1) Death

2) Suicide

3) Father-Son Relationships

4) Mother-Son Relationships

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the writer's style. Discuss in detail the writer's choice to structure his book in the way he has, the use of the newspaper clips and lists, his choice of words, his use of dialogue, and his choice of chapter names. Discuss how each of these choices affects the reader's overall impression of the novel and the themes within the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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