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 Dru do at her house before the party?

2. Where is Diane at the beginning of Chapter 12?

3. Why does the music stop?

4. What kind of light is available at the top of the Nail?

5. What is Dru's response to her oldest sister's question?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where is the party after Scooter and Elisa's jump, what is there and who does Diane pay attention to? Where does Mike and Dru sit?

2. Where does everyone go from the celebration and what does Dru promise Elisa?

3. What does Mike and Dru talk about concerning Tom's stitches and jumping?

4. What happens when Dru's family first arrives at Mike's house, how is the dinner and why does Janie irritate Dru?

5. What does Tom announce when the music stops and what does Diane do after the announcement?

6. How many stitches does Tom receive, what does Grant tell the doctor and why did Grant lie to the doctor? How does Diane react to Tom's jump?

7. Who do Mike and Dru see on the beach, what does Mike do about it, and how does Dru connect her and Elisa?

8. What does Diane do when a slow song comes on and why does the music stop?

9. How does Mike feel about the invitation to Dru's family and what does he say about telling an adult about the jumping?

10. What does Elisa want Dru to warn Tom about and what does Dru say to Tom?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dru represents a mother figure. The other teenagers are eager to see Elisa and Scooter jump, but it tears Dru apart. She seems to take a motherly role with Elisa because she feels her influence would have stopped her best friend from jumping. Being a mother figure causes Dru not to fit in with the group. She is not rich or beautiful, but more importantly, she looks at the teenagers as people to whom she cannot relate. Thus, she separates herself from her own age group.

1. Dru is very intelligent having received a full scholarship to a prestigious university. Discuss how her intelligence may have contributed to her being a mother figure to some of the teenagers in "Jumping the Nail". Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Why do you think Dru being a mother figure, with the maturity that implies, may interfere with Dru fitting in well with Dru and her peers? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Dru is apparently not only smart, but mature, and these two qualities make her feel like she does not fit in and she has a tendency to separate herself from her own age group. What are ways in which you believe Dru could feel more relaxed and compatible with her peers? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Dru discusses the idea of feeling invisible. She feels this way until Mike and she start dating. This represents the universal teenage feeling of being invisible. It is a theme often seen in books about adolescence. For Dru, it is a real feeling and her encounter with Diane only exacerbates the feeling to a deeper level.

1. Discuss a time you or someone you know felt invisible. How did it compare to Dru's feelings? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss, in depth, why Dru's meeting with Diane might have made her feel more invisible or insecure. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Dating MIke is an external event which has made Dru feel, and possibly be, more acceptable to others in her school. Discuss some of the internal values Dru could strengthen within herself which could produce the same effect. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

In some sense, most novels, deal with the concept of good and evil. Discuss the following:

1. What are the forces allied with "good" in Jumping the Nail's world and what forces are allied with "evil"?

2. How does one distinguish good from evil? How is good distinguished from evil in "Jumping the Nail"?

3.Is there a universal consensus on what constitutes good or evil? Why or why not?

4. Do you generally agree with the ideas of good and evil in "Jumping the Nail"? Why or why not?

5. What are several examples of good and evil in your culture? Do you agree with these ideas? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,231 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample