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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Peter leave the game of Niggers and Masters that he, Ambrose, and Magda were playing?
(a) He was losing
(b) He had to deliver newspapers
(c) His girlfriend came over
(d) His father wanted him to mow the lawn

2. What does Ambrose’s father do for a living?
(a) School principal
(b) Accountant
(c) Banker
(d) Insurance agent

3. What does Ambrose’s mother do for Uncle Karl in the car while they are driving to Ocean City?
(a) Gets the cigar lighter for him
(b) Gives him a sandwich to eat
(c) Reads the map for him
(d) Nothing

4. What does Ambrose imagine doing with his family years after he is lost in the funhouse?
(a) Going through the funhouse with him
(b) Reading aloud his account of being lost in the funhouse
(c) Coming to the seashore with his own family for vacation
(d) Never coming to Ocean City for vacation

5. What novelist does the narrator mention as to how that author describes the sea?
(a) George Eliot
(b) Edgar Allan Poe
(c) James Joyce
(d) Nathaniel Hawthorne

6. What does the narrator say giving descriptions with two different senses, such as auditory and visual, can do?
(a) It draws the attention away from any narrative contrivances
(b) It adds words to the book
(c) It orients the reader’s imagination to the scene
(d) It helps the author remember what the characters are doing

7. What does Ambrose imagine reminding his wife of when he is old and gray?
(a) How he has been a success
(b) His youthful passions
(c) How his wife is the real force behind his work
(d) How he could not have won a Nobel prize without her

8. What does Ambrose see under the boardwalk?
(a) A man and a woman having sex
(b) Dozens of sand crabs
(c) Nothing
(d) People in a life raft

9. Many of what kind of machines are out of order in the penny arcade?
(a) The skit bowling machines
(b) The digger machines
(c) The pinball machines
(d) The fortune telling machines

10. On what is the old man Ambrose sees in the funhouse sitting?
(a) A long, wooden bench
(b) He is sitting on the floor
(c) A stool
(d) An armchair

11. Why is a conventional narrative pattern used, according to the narrator?
(a) People have learned by trial and error that it works
(b) The publishers will not buy literature that does not use it
(c) It is what they teach in school
(d) There is no conventional narrative pattern

12. In what situation does the narrator say it is not a good idea for an author to use the first person?
(a) When it is obvious the events could not be real
(b) When the story is written for children
(c) When it is essential for the narrator to know what every character is thinking
(d) When the narrator identifies too strongly with the narrator

13. Ambrose thinks everything one sees in Ocean City is preparation and intermission for what?
(a) Sex
(b) Growing up
(c) Life
(d) Winning the war

14. What does Ambrose imagine about his work when he is an adult?
(a) It will help to save the world
(b) He will be very famous in his line of work
(c) It will be something only super intelligent people can do
(d) It will be work that will impress Magda

15. What does the narrator say about Magda’s physical figure?
(a) It is well developed for her age
(b) It is a trifle heavy
(c) It is too skinny
(d) It is still pre-adolescent

Short Answer Questions

1. Where are the electrical towers of the power plant located?

2. What is on the floor in the hall after the tumble-barrel room?

3. At what age are people when the narrator says some people hit their stride?

4. What does the narrator say is a way to save face if one is lost when one is found?

5. For what does Ambrose think there should be a button?

(see the answer keys)

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