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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. Why did Chick believe his father stopped coming around after he quit baseball?

2. Who does Chick claim was a ghost throughout his childhood?

3. Where did Chick find his greatest joy during the bleak years after baseball?

4. Over dinner, what does Chick request his mother tell him about?

5. What three things did Posey once tell Chick he needed to be successful?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Posey often do for some of the patients in the hospital where she worked as a nurse?

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

3. What happens when Chick hears the strange voice once again?

4. What does Chick hear when he answers the phone at Rose's house?

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

6. To whom does Posey take Chick to visit after dinner?

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

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

9. Why does Chick suspect he is suffering from temporary insanity?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Chick's father. Who is Chick's father? Why did Chick's father leave the family? How did divorce affect Chick's relationship with his father? How did baseball play a role in Chick's relationship with his father? How did baseball pull Chick and his father apart?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss father-daughter relationships. How is Chick's relationship with his daughter like his own relationship with his father? How is Chick's relationship with his daughter like his relationship with his mother? Why is Chick's relationship with his daughter important to the plot of the novel? Who is Chick's daughter? How is Chick's sister's relationship with their mother different from Chick's relationship with their mother? Is this difference important to the developing plot? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following and explain how it is a turning point within the plot:

1) Chick's car accident

2) The visit to Miss Thelma

3) The visit to the home of Chick's father

(see the answer keys)

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