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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. How does John characterize T.R. Rosenberg?

2. How does John characterize the exchanges that take place between ordinary people?

3. How does John say his second marriage was different from his first?

4. Where did Chris stay while his and John's mother was hospitalized?

5. How does John characterize his second wife's effect on him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was John afraid of when his son was born?

2. What recommendation does John make about marriage?

3. What metaphor does John use to describe what it feels like to be an Aspergian?

4. What happened when John's work was appropriated by another engineer?

5. What hope did John nourish, as he moved back to Amherst?

6. What does John say about his difficulty with small-talk?

7. What does John say about his relationships while he was on the road?

8. Describe the conditions under which John learned that he had Asperger's syndrome.

9. Describe John's feelings about working in a corporation.

10. What does John get from his job as a sound and lighting engineer?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Use this book as a meditation on the value of a five-star rating system. Is a five-star system sufficient to a book like this? Would you need to have sub-topics for the rating system, for plot, characterization, language, etc? What other sub-topics would you need? What value or importance gets lost in a five-star scale? Design a scale that would be better for this book.

Essay Topic 2

How do you think John's brother Chris would change John's account of events?

Essay Topic 3

In what way is this book relevant to contemporary readers? What contemporary issues are addressed in the book, and how would the book contribute to contemporary discussion? Cite specific discussions from contemporary sources, and cite specific instances from the book, that describe its contemporary relevance.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 727 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample