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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 pitch does Francis teach Daniel to throw?

2. Where did Helen meet Arthur?

3. How does Katrina characterize her life?

4. What is Helen humming when she wakes up in the morning and starts to walk?

5. How does Katrina characterize her relationship with Catholicism?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the meaning of the attention Rosskam draws to Francis’ hands.

2. How does Helen feel about her life, when she is summing it up as she dies?

3. What was Francis’ mother’s relationship with Katrina Daugherty like?

4. How does the narrative change in Chapter 5?

5. Why is Helen angry with Francis, when she thinks about him in the hotel?

6. How did Helen’s mother and brother cheat her?

7. What prompts Francis to get down from Rosskam’s wagon and quit for the day?

8. Describe Rosskam and his environment.

9. How did Helen’s father’s death change her life?

10. What deal do Francis and Rosskam strike regarding Francis’ pay for the day?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

What is the role of the city of Albany in Ironweed? Is it an essentially American place that symbolizes the American experience, or is it a personal place whose significance is limited to the author and the particular characters he created?

Essay Topic 3

What is the genre of Ironweed? What type of story is it, and how does it resist categorization? What kinds of evidence does William Kennedy give you, as a reader, for placing the novel in a genre category? Using examples from the text, make an argument for what category of novel Ironweed belongs to.

(see the answer keys)

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