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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 did Smarsh think Jeannie's boyfriend Bob's house decorating style demonstrated about he and Jeannie?

2. What did Jeannie tell Smarsh was the smartest investment in real estate?

3. Who was Carl's wife who Jeannie was sent to live with in Chapter 5?

4. Which Senator did a highly publicized investigation into supposedly rampant welfare fraud in 1962?

5. What did Smarsh say in Chapter 5 that most people associate poverty with?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Betty leave Ray, Jeannie's father?

2. What does Smarsh learn from her father Nick regarding houses?

3. What does it mean to Smarsh when Arnie tells her in Part III that she is smart?

4. What made Betty's poverty more tolerable to other people, in Smarsh's opinion?

5. How did Jeannie's boyfriend, also named Bob, treat Smarsh?

6. What was one reason Bob found it fairly easy to get full custody of his and Betty's son in Part IV?

7. How does Smarsh win an essay contest in fifth grade in Part III?

8. What did the family of Vietnamese immigrants do to express their gratitude for Jeannie's help getting them their house?

9. Why were Smarsh and her brother embarrassed when their father drove them to school in Part III?

10. In Part IV, what does the maroon wall symbolize for Jeannie?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 7, how does Smarsh say she knows she is finally no longer poor? What does her large new house represent to her? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

How does going away to college change Smarsh's relationship with her family and of their perceptions of her? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 5, on page 200, Smarsh's father Nick tells her a parable about a hard-working carpenter who intentionally does a shoddy job on a house for the first time in his life, only to have his supervisor hand him the keys to the house as a reward for his years of hard work. Write an essay exploring the meaning of this story as it relates specifically to Smarsh's family's situation and outlook on work, poverty, and opportunity.

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