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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 Dave ask Robin?

2. What will the person receive from the government?

3. What does Dave do?

4. Where does Dave spot Romero?

5. What does Dave see when he is wandering around outside?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Dave ask Annie to do and how does she respond both to his request and her meeting Claudette?/

2. Describe the night of Annie's murder.

3. Describe the confrontation between Dave and Romero.

4. What does Romero tell Dave when he calls Dave and what is Dave's reaction?

5. Why is Robin waiting for Dave one evening and what happens?

6. What does Victor Romero attempt?

7. What murder scene does Dave investigate?

8. What is the government offering Romero and why is Dave informed of the fact?

9. When Dave calls Dautrieve, what does Dave learn?

10. What does Dave do with this new information he gains from Dautrieve about Keats?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

It becomes increasingly obvious that Dave is willing to sacrifice his simple and enjoyable life in order to become involved with the ugly side of life in Louisiana and to set things aright, as he sees it. Discuss the following:

1. Analyze the process of Dave becoming involved, then retreating, then becoming involved, then retreating, etc., and why you think he vacillates so much.

2. Discuss the aspects of Dave's personality that makes it very difficult for him to forget the plane crash.

3. If Dave had stayed away from the plane crash investigation, it is likely Annie would still be alive. How do you think this knowledge impacts Dave? Use specific examples from the story to illustrate your point.

Essay Topic 2

Heaven's Prisoners is considered a crime/murder mystery, a sub-genre of fiction. Discuss the following:

1. Define genre and then specifically crime/murder mystery.

2. What do you think is the difference between a suspense novel and a murder mystery?

3. Many in the world of academe do not see mystery as a serious genre, that its primary purpose is entertainment and not "worthy" of being studied by serious students of literature? Respond to that idea.

Essay Topic 3

Annie wants Dave to live a life resigned of all involvement in the shady side of life. She wants him to remain sober and entirely detached from any police-type involvement--and she is very verbal and increasingly forceful about her desires in this regard. Discuss the following:

1. Trace and analyze Dave and Annie's relationship. Is it stable? Loving? What causes the problems in the relationship when there are problems?

2. Do you think it is fair of Annie to ask Dave to stay out of the situation that revolves around the plane crash? Does she expect him to be someone he is not?

3. Annie meets Dave after he has already resigned from the police force in New Orleans; therefore, she marries a man who is not engaged in police operations. Do you think she would have married Dave had he still been a police officer?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,288 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample