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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 church does Ambrose try to join when he finds out he is not baptized?

2. What kind of voice does Peter use when pledging to be a good boy?

3. In Ambrose’s imagination, what does Uncle Karl tease Ambrose about on the drive home from Ocean City?

4. Over what does Ambrose’s mother chide his father?

5. Why did Peter leave the game of Niggers and Masters that he, Ambrose, and Magda were playing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What church does Ambrose’s family belong to, and why is Ambrose different from most other children in the church? Why did it happen?

2. What gives Ambrose hope that he will find the exit to the Funhouse?

3. What do Peter and Uncle Karl try at the pool, and how does Ambrose’s mother react to their behavior? How is Ambrose involved in the situation?

4. Describe Uncle Karl and Peter.

5. What advertises the funhouse that the family stares at, and what does Peter suggests when they are looking at it? What does Ambrose suggest?

6. What kind of machines in the arcade are broken, and why are they sitting there broken?

7. Who is in the car with Ambrose driving to Ocean City?

8. What does Uncle Karl say will change the holiday for the family this year and why has this occured?

9. What does Ambrose think he sees when he steps into the mirror room in the Funhouse?

10. What are Peter and Magda doing while Ambrose is in the Funhouse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

During the car ride Ambrose remembers a time when, three years previously, Peter, Magda and himself played Niggers and Masters.

Discuss how the game relates to the era and place in which this story takes place. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

The narrator asks at the beginning of Lost in the Funhouse 'for whom is the funhouse fun?' Discuss, in depth, what you believe Ambrose’s response to the above question would be.

Essay Topic 3

Choose two significant symbols and trace and analyze their appearance in Lost in the Funhouse. Are these universal symbols that would have the same meaning in any culture? What other symbols could portray the same idea? Why do you think Barth chooses the symbols he does? Consider symbols such as the Towers, Fat May, the Funhouse, and the oil in the ocean.

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