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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 does Brenda ask about his cousin, Doris?
(a) What she looks like.
(b) What sorority she is a member of.
(c) Where she is attending school.
(d) If she has a fiance.

2. What does Neil explain to the boy?
(a) That he should have his mother come with him to the library.
(b) That he needs a library card to look at the books.
(c) That the Gauguin paintings were done in Tahiti.
(d) That the head librarian would be leaving in a few minutes.

3. What is the area like in Short Hills?
(a) big houses people use only for the summer.
(b) Large houses with green lawns and water sprinklers.
(c) Mansions with valet service.
(d) Rows of highrise condos.

4. What do Aunt Gladys and Mrs. Patimkin have in common that is different from Neil?
(a) The women are not patriotic but Neil is.
(b) The women are not religious but Neil is.
(c) The women are very class and money conscious but Neil is not.
(d) The women know their family roots but Neil does not.

5. When the family goes outside, what are Mr. Patimkin and his 10-year-old daughter Julie doing?
(a) Playing tennis.
(b) Playing with the dog.
(c) Going for a swim.
(d) Playing basketball.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Brenda feel about her mother?

2. What promotion has more or less been promised to Neil?

3. What indicates that Brenda and her family are concerned with status and appearance?

4. What are some of the things they do together that summer?

5. Ironically, where is Mr. Patimkin's store that makes all the money for the family to live in Short Hills?

Short Essay Questions

1. What evidence is there that Brenda is driven by appearances?

2. Discuss the competitive nature of Brenda.

3. How has the relationship developed between Neil and Brenda?

4. How does the reader know that Neil is restless and bored babysitting Julie?

5. What is learned about Mrs. Patimkin from the conversation Neil and Brenda have outside under a tree?

6. Early in the story what gives Neil away as a consummate romantic?

7. Since they met that day at the Country Club, has Brenda forgotten the young man she asked to hold her glasses while she dived into the pool?

8. What rather strange job is given Neil the evening after the dinner?

9. Explain the social and economic difference between Brenda and Neil.

10. Tell how the relationship has developed between Neil and the boy who comes to look at the Gauguin book.

(see the answer keys)

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