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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 the narrator say Rudy is aware of as Francis approaches Gerald’s grave?
2. What day of the year does Ironweed start on?
3. How does Francis describe Helen to Rudy?
4. How does the narrator characterize Francis’ mother’s reaction to his arrival in the cemetery?
5. What does Gerald hope Francis will do after making this visit?
Short Essay Questions
1. Describe the relationship between Francis and Rudy.
2. Describe the brotherhood Francis and Rudy share.
3. What effect is created by the author’s sophisticated vocabulary?
4. How did Francis’ father die?
5. What kinship does Francis have with the Phelan brothers?
6. What is Reverend Chester’s policy about drunks, and what effect does it have?
7. What does Jack say Francis could have if he got straight, and what is Francis’ response?
8. 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?
9. How did Francis come to see Aldo Campione die?
10. What misfortune besets Helen after she returns to the Mission with Francis and Rudy?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
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 2
Who is the audience for Ironweed? What is the ideal reader for Ironweed likely to think about the book’s main topics? How does this book try to affect the reader? What is it trying to teach him or her, or get him or her to do?
Essay Topic 3
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.
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This section contains 996 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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