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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 wrote the play The American Dream that the author's mother is seen reading in a panel in Chapter 5?

2. What is the title of Chapter 5?

3. What profession did Bruce Bechdel have other than being a teacher?

4. What role does the author describe her mother playing in The Importance of Being Earnest in Chapter 6?

5. How far away from her childhood home was the "pre-clean air act paper mill" that the author describes in Chapter 5?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the author learn about obsessive-compulsive disorder from reading Dr. Spock?

2. What does Bechdel write regarding the trial of Oscar Wilde in Chapter 6?

3. What is described in the police report that the author illustrates in Chapter 6?

4. How did the author feel about rehearsing lines with her mother in Chapter 6?

5. Why does the author say that her family witnessed lots of sunrises in 1974?

6. Describe the dream in the beginning of Chapter 5. What symbolism can be seen in the dream?

7. What does the title of Chapter 5, "The Canary-Colored Caravan of Death" allude to?

8. How does Bechdel describe the political atmosphere when she was 13 in Chapter 6?

9. Why did Bruce Bechdel tell his daughter he was going to Danville in Chapter 6?

10. What impacts of her parents' "creative solitude" does the author describe in Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the events surrounding Bruce Bechdel's trial in the narrative. What was Bruce Bechdel charged with? By whom was he charged? What was the outcome of the trial? How did the trial affect the author and her family?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's allusions to Henry James and his works in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Whom does the author associate with Henry James novels? Why? What correlations does she make?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the political and historical allusions in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. How does the author describe the political atmosphere in America during her childhood and adolescence? What major historical events took place at this time? How did they shape the author's life and outlook?

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