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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. __________ says that Ray beats them up and rapes Ma in front of the twins to teach them about the real world.

2. What is the terminal disease that Thomas and Dominick's mother eventually dies from?

3. Which friend is Dominick trying to please when he joins the gym where he eventually meets Joy?

4. Billy Covington is the man who dies in Vietnam, a man who idolized _____________, though the reader doesn't learn much more.

5. Dominick believes that __________ is a bully, but that he is not inhuman as the tapes seem to make him.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Dominick grow impatient with when he is talking with his brother a day before the amputation?

2. What does seeing young dance students trigger in Dominick when he goes to see Patel and Sheffer?

3. What do the two boys think about when their mother takes them to a movie in 1958 and both boys are bored?

4. What is the story that Dominick maintains when the police question him and Leo about Dell?

5. Why do Ray and Ma fight over sending Dominick and Thomas to college during the time of the Vietnam War?

6. Why does Dell decide to lower the price of the used car that he is trying to sell to Leo, in this story?

7. What does Leo suggest to Dominick when he comes to pick him up during this part of the book?

8. What does Ma forbid the boys from telling their stepfather when they are coming back from the movie theater?

9. Why does Thomas believe that Dominick has been singled out in his life, according to the therapy tape?

10. What happens when Dominick takes Thomas to the hospital after his amputation during the beginning of the book?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The story includes a number of flashbacks about the life of the brothers as they were growing up.

Part 1: Why do you think the author felt it was necessary to include flashbacks?

Part 2: Do you agree that the flashbacks help the story come to life for the reader?

Part 3: How do you think the story might have changed if the reader doesn't find out anything about the history of the brothers?

Essay Topic 2

Dominick feels bad for not sticking up for a friend in his class when he was a kid.

Part 1: Why do you think Dominick feels bad for not sticking up for a kid in his class?

Part 2: How do you think Dominick's life might have changed if he were to stick up for this kid in his class?

Part 3: Why do you think that Dominick feels the need to stick up for others in his life?

Essay Topic 3

The relationship between Dominick and Thomas is a loving one, though perhaps not in the conventional way.

Part 1: Why do you think Dominick continues to care for his brother?

Part 2: Do you think that you could stand by your brother if he had as many problems as Thomas does?

Part 3: How do you think Dominick could be handling his brother better in the story?

(see the answer keys)

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