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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What runs through the Parthenon in the middle of the town of Rosewater?
(a) The canal and the bus terminal.
(b) The New York Central, Monon, and Nickel Plate Railroads, and the canal.
(c) The canal and the stream outside of the mansion.
(d) The canal and The Illinois Central Railway lines.

2. What does Eliot seek out in every town he visits?
(a) The public libraries.
(b) The mayors.
(c) The railroad stations.
(d) The volunteer fire departments.

3. Who put in the canal bisecting the county of Rosewater?
(a) Eliot's grandfather when he took over the Foundation.
(b) Eliot's uncle who was a farmer.
(c) Eliot's father when he became a senator.
(d) Eliot's great-grandfather.

4. What happens when the Rosewater Inter-State Ship Canal fails?
(a) The Rosewater family pulled out of town.
(b) The townspeople rioted and burned down the Rosewater mansion.
(c) People tried to sue the Rosewater Foundation.
(d) Investors lost their farms and Noah Rosewater bought them.

5. What does Eliot write on the walls of public bathrooms?
(a) "If you would be unloved and forgotten, be reasonable."
(b) "Be right back- Godot."
(c) "Art is the opium of the masses."
(d) "If at first you don't succeed, give up."

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the history of the Rosewater fire house siren?

2. Who is referred to as "The Nut," "The Saint," and "The Holy Roller?"

3. What is the name of Eliot's ledger?

4. Who is next in line after Rosewater's son to become president of the Foundation?

5. How tall is Norman Musahri?

Short Essay Questions

1. Eliot lives in his office. Describe the conditions in which Eliot lives. What are his surrounding like? Does he have many visitors? Does he leave the office regularly? What are some of the unusual qualities of the office?

2. Where is Eliot Rosewater born and raised? Where does he attend school? What degree, and with what specialty, does Eliot obtain after WWII?

3. How do Sylvia and Eliot react to the social set of Avondale? With who do they socialize? What happens because of this association?

4. Eliot writes letters to Sylvia during his travels, one from a fire station in New Vienna, Iowa. What does he explain he has suggested to the fire department in that small town? How do they react? How does Sylvia react after receiving the letter?

5. Sylvia tells Eliot's father the story of how she and Eliot met. What is the story she tells?

6. Who is Eliot Rosewater? What do we learn about him in the first chapter of the novel?

7. Who is Kilgore Trout? What one of his books does Mushari find to read and where?

8. In Chapter Three, Eliot begins talking to people in front of a firehouse in Vashti, Texas. What does he identify as the main purpose of the Armed Forces in America?

9. In the back of Eliot's ledger is an unfinished novel he has written. In the novel, Eliot talks about Heaven. How does he describe Heaven and what happens there?

10. Mushari finds a sealed letter from Eliot Rosewater to be given to his heir upon Eliot's death. What does Mushari do with the letter? What does he learn about Eliot? What is his next step?

(see the answer keys)

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