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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 does Ambrose notice is missing that causes Ambrose to falter when he is lost in a dark area of the funhouse?

2. What example does Ambrose use to show he has more imagination than Peter?

3. What does Ambrose imagine his father saying to him about the people on the boardwalk?

4. Why is Ocean City browned out?

5. What does the narrator say alternates back and forth in a narrative?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Ambrose see in his imagination about married life?

2. What does the narrator say a Freitag’s Triangle is?

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

4. Why are the prizes different on the broken machines at the arcade?

5. What happens to Ambrose’s father the first day, and what does his father have to do about it?

6. Why does the family stay out of the ocean, and what do they do instead of swimming in the ocean?

7. Why does Ambrose think people don’t know what to make of him?

8. What does Magda win during 'Looking for the Towers', and what does she do with her prize?

9. What does Ambrose remember of a cigar box his Uncle Karl has?

10. How does Ambrose feel after what he sees at the boardwalk, and what does he want to do? What comment does Magda make about Ambrose’s condition?

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

One of the key elements in any funhouse is the hall of mirrors where visitors see images of themselves in strange and unfamiliar shapes.

Discuss the ways in which Ambrose becomes even more aware of himself when he is in the mirror room of the funhouse. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Define plot and include the definitions of the most important elements of a plot. Do all short stories have a plot? Why or why not? Write a brief synopsis of the plot of Lost in the Funhouse, identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot? Give a brief synopsis of any important sub-plots.

(see the answer keys)

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