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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. What does Eliot tell Sylvia he wants to do in Rosewater, Indiana?

2. From where is Eliot's first letter to Sylvia written after he leaves New York?

3. When in New Egypt, New Jersey, with whom does Eliot trade his dress suit and for what?

4. What stipulation of the charter of the Foundation does Mushari take interest in?

5. What is in the back of Eliot's ledger?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe Eliot's office in Rosewater. What unique characteristics does the office have? What services does Eliot provide for the people of Rosewater?

3. Even though Eliot continues to exhibit signs of alcoholism, emotional distress, and mental illness neither his wife Sylvia nor his father the Senator do anything to help him. What reasons do each of them have for not acting to help Eliot?

4. What does Eliot's letter to his heir reveal about his parents?

5. When Eliot finally enters psychoanalysis, what changes does he make? How long is he in treatment? Why does the psychoanalysis end?

6. 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?

7. Eliot had an experience in WWII that changed his life forever. What was that experience, and how does it affect his life after he leaves the service?

8. How did the people of Avondale greet Sylvia and Eliot when they move to Rosewater? Why do they treat them this way?

9. When he disappears for a week, what does Eliot do? Why does the law firm of McAlister, Robjent, Reed, and McGee hire a detective to find Eliot, and where does he find Eliot?

10. Who is listening on the other end of the conversation between Eliot and Sylvia? What does the person learn from the conversation to aid in the case to have Eliot declared insane?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who is Norman Mushari? How does he get the information he has about the Rosewater family, their corporation, and their foundation? Why does he react the way he does to the Rosewater fortune? What is his plan?

Essay Topic 2

The title of the book is God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine. Discuss these two phrases: how they appear in the novel, what they mean, and why the author chose this title.

Essay Topic 3

In her letter to Daddy Parrot, Selena explains to him the people with whom she lives, the Buntlines. At the end of her letter, she says perhaps she is too dumb to understand what is wonderful about Pisquontuit. She says to him "maybe this is a case of pearls before swine, but I really don't see how." What does she mean by this? Why is this saying part of the title of the novel?

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