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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. Who called Posey's house one afternoon while Chick was there in Section 4: Part 1?

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

3. Who is the first woman Chick and Posey visit that day?

4. What voice does Chick hear as he goes to answer the door in his mother's house after their visit to Rose?

5. What request did Posey make for her own funeral after seeing the custom at Jewish funerals?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why was Posey not impressed with Chick's baseball scholarship?

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

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

5. 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?

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

7. What do they call a short stay in professional baseball?

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

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

10. What are the two days at college Chick shares with the reader?

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 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

Essay Topic 3

Discuss baseball. Why does Chick decide to go out for baseball? Why does Chick continue to play baseball? Why does Chick not tell his mother that his father comes to his college baseball games? Why does Chick leave college to play professional baseball? How does Posey feel about Chick making this choice? Does this baseball career give Chick the life he wants? Why or why not? Why does Chick finally decide to quit baseball? Why does Chick's father pressure him into playing an old-timers game? What is significant about this game?

(see the answer keys)

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