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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 Sani teach Moth how to make at his father's house?

2. In Moth's story for Sani in Part III, where does Hercules get stuck?

3. What does Moth use during her morning ritual every day, even on her road trip with Sani?

4. What do the Dine call the First World in Sani's story?

5. What does Sani say the white feather smells like in Part III?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Moth notice about the way Sani's father greets them in Part IV?

2. What is special about the Fourth World in Sani's story?

3. What makes Sani and Moth laugh hard in the Time Travel Motel?

4. What does kissing Sani fee like to Moth above all other wonderful things?

5. What does Moth's grandfather once tell her about her story?

6. What does Moth wonder about Sani in terms of the kind of (metaphorical) light he emits?

7. Why do the people in Sani's creation story move from world to world?

8. What does Sani appear to take his pills for?

9. Why does the Water Monster in Sani's Third World rain such sadness?

10. What does Sani tell Moth he will do for this one summer with her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think McBride chooses to delve into different creation stories during Moth's and Sani's road trip? How do these stories relate to the trip itself, and to what both Moth and Sani are struggling with? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

How does McBride communicate Sani's difficulty in finally letting Moth go at the end of the novel? What is the significance of Sani's song for Moth many years later that he ends up playing at Madison Square Garden? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How does McBride explain Moth's feeling of being an outsider, and of isolation, in Virginia? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 606 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample