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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. How do Neil and Brenda meet?

2. How often is Neil seeing Brenda now?

3. How does Neil avoid the issue of the boy wanting to check the Gauguin book out of the library?

4. Where is the house of Neil Klugman's aunt and uncle where he lives?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the competitive nature of Brenda.

2. Explain the prejudice of the head librarian against the boy.

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

4. Explain a commonality between Neil and the boy.

5. What is Mrs. Patimkin's athletic involvement?

6. How does Aunt Gladys show that she is somewhat isolated in her Newark Jewish community?

7. Besides his week at Brenda's house, what else does Neil have to look forward to?

8. How does Neil see Mr. Patimkin when he meets him at dinner?

9. Contrast Aunt Gladys and Mrs. Patimkin from the conversation Gladys and Neil have about the Patimkin house.

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper about world travel as a good education. Refer to Neil's being comfortable around all social classes of people as an example.

Essay Topic 2

Does Philip Roth imply that Brenda was just like Julie when she was that age? Give specific reasons for your opinion from Brenda's behavior as a young woman.

Essay Topic 3

Write a short, short story about Ron and Harriet after the wedding. Use you imagination and what you know about them from the novel to predict how stable their marriage might be and what happens to them later.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 768 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample