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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. With whose funeral does Karen become obsessed?

2. What does Karen want Scott to ask her?

3. What does Bill do after Liz goes to bed?

4. What does Scott call the local bus station?

5. Who does the hostage say tortures him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the part of Beirut Brita is driving through at the beginning of the section.

2. Why doesn't George like using a word processor?

3. Why is it unlikely anyone will identify Bill's body?

4. Summarize this section.

5. What signs are there that Karen is getting ill?

6. What does Bill realize about his writing in this section?

7. What does Brita see from her bombed out apartment at the end of this section?

8. How does the boy torture the prisoner?

9. What does Rashid say about Chairman Mao?

10. What does Karen think about on the plane?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What parallels does the author draw between terrorism and writing? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this comparison?

Essay Topic 2

Identify the main themes of the story. In what way are these themes relevant to the period? How does the author use character and setting to express these themes?

Essay Topic 3

Who were the Moonies? What influence did they have on American popular culture during the seventies? Why does Karen find it so difficult to escape them both physically and mentally? Why does the author represent them as threatening? Is this an accurate representation?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 744 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample