Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What role had Dick Doolan played in Francis’ life?
2. How long have Francis and Helen known each other?
3. What physical debility does Reverend Chester have?
4. What is Francis Phelan’s father’s reaction to Francis’ arrival?
5. What does Helen lose on her way back to the Mission?
Short Essay Questions
1. What is Rowdy Dick Doolan’s role in Francis’ story?
2. What is the message of the song Helen sings to Francis?
3. What misfortune besets Helen after she returns to the Mission with Francis and Rudy?
4. Describe Francis’ relationship with his mother.
5. Describe the brotherhood Francis and Rudy share.
6. What state is Sandra in when Francis, Helen and Rudy and Pee Wee return from the Gilded Cage?
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. What does Francis’ conversation with Rudy tell us about his relationship with Helen?
9. What price does Helen pay for sleeping in Finny’s car?
10. How is Francis feeling at the beginning of the novel?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.
Essay Topic 2
The ending of the novel is ambiguous, but there are clues throughout the novel about whether it might be read optimistically or pessimistically. What indications does Kennedy give the reader about what to make of the ending? What conclusion do you come to about the conclusion?
Essay Topic 3
What role does Francis’ baseball career play in Ironweed? Is the sport part of his bum lifestyle, or was it a period when he was something other than a bum? How does the novel reconcile Francis’ present life with the life he lived as a ball player?
|
This section contains 971 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
