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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. Which of the following is the defense attorney in Fife’s work on priestly misconduct?

2. For which of the following holidays does Fife note to Amy they are expected to visit his parents?

3. Which of the following banks is recommended to Fife?

4. Which of the following does Fife note was his grandfather’s name?

5. The comment about Straford that it is “the reverse side of the coin that bears the ghetto on its face” (125) offers an example of which of the following?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Fife describe Amy’s reaction to Boston?

2. How does Fife define innocence?

3. Why does Fife muse Malcolm and Diana do not care about his account of his life?

4. What does Fife muse that the film crew will gain from their project?

5. How does Fife explain his teenaged road trip with Nick Dafina as “clean and honorable” (188-89)?

6. What does Fife note is his common public image?

7. With what interviewing technique does Malcolm credit Fife?

8. How does Fife differentiate biography from autobiography or interview?

9. Why does Malcolm note he means to keep in his film Fife’s narration about dropping out of college?

10. Why does Fife note having felt suspicious as he leaves the bank with the deposit check from Alicia’s trust fund?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the following passage:

But after these ten years away, it can’t be all that painful now, [Fife] assures himself. He’s no longer afraid of the shame that he once associated with the mere mention of the name of the place. He’s a different person now. People change. What harm can come to his new life by setting that town alongside it? Even if the town is altogether unchanged, which he doubts, it won’t threaten his hard-won balance and momentum. Not anymore. He’s a different person now. They are no longer in conflict, Fife and his hometown, Fife’s present and his shameful past (124).

Does the novel bear out the assertion of the passage? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

Ultimately, is Fife a sympathetic protagonist or not? How does the novel present him as such?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the following passage: “That’s all, just numbers, [Fife] thinks. What’s the matter with him? He’s not stupid. Be why can’t he read and interpret those numbers and as a result know that the economy is in decent shape, at least for the foreseeable future? Or not. Maybe the stock market is about to tank” (78). Explicate the implications for Fife of the passage.

(see the answer keys)

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