View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Francis get for Sandra?

2. What is Francis’ reaction when Rudy tells him he is frivolous?

3. How does Francis characterize Clara?

4. How does Francis characterize Sandra’s life?

5. Where does Helen sleep?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Francis end up killing Harold Allen?

2. Describe Francis and Helen’s visit to Jack and Clara’s flat.

3. What state is Sandra in when Francis, Helen and Rudy and Pee Wee return from the Gilded Cage?

4. What is the message of the song Helen sings to Francis?

5. How did Francis end up with a job shoveling dirt at the cemetery?

6. What is the importance of Halloween in the book’s setting?

7. When Helen says that she won’t go back to Finny’s car, she says that she might call her people. What is the irony in this?

8. How did Francis come to see Aldo Campione die?

9. How is Francis feeling at the beginning of the novel?

10. What does Francis’ conversation with Rudy tell us about his relationship with Helen?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is Francis a hero or an anti-hero? Where does Francis fit in the continuum of other characters in literature? Compare and contrast Francis’ character with two other main characters in American literature.

Essay Topic 2

Is Francis redeemed by the events described in Ironweed, or is he left unredeemed? What obstacles to his redemption has he overcome? What obstacles remain? What spiritual state does Francis aspire to, and what does he do to attain that state?

Essay Topic 3

Write an evaluative review of Ironweed. What is this book’s place in culture? What are its uses? What are its limitations?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 883 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample