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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. Osvaldo Cruz is a member of which gang?

2. What part of the movie does Steve feel like he has walked into in the prologue?

3. What does O'Brien say a termite looks like?

4. In the screenplay description of the inmates "yelling from cell to cell," what distinguishes their yells?

5. How does Detective Karyl describe the scene when he enters the drugstore?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Steve doing when the police come to arrest him and take him away from home?

2. What is so shocking about Steve's father crying?

3. How can Steve's lawyer be described?

4. When the newscaster in Steve's "notes" section of the screenplay asks a passerby if he is shocked by the crime, what is the man's response?

5. What does Mr. Nesbitt look like in the pictures the prosecution passes around to the jury?

6. What does Steve say about why he thinks Petrocelli is using Bolden's testimony?

7. What happens when a preacher comes to visit the prisoners?

8. Why does the first shot of the movie (Monday, July 6) feature Steve lying with the blanket over his head?

9. When Steve gets dressed for court on Thursday, July 9 and thinks of his mother, what is she doing?

10. Why does Johnny, the ringleader of the eventual crime, want to rob a pharmacy instead of a bank?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using specific textual examples, describe and contextualize the way Walter Dean Myers uses the word "monster" in this book. Be sure to consider how the author means it literally as well as metaphorically or symbolically, and be sure to discuss to which character(s) this word applies.

Essay Topic 2

The narrative style of this novel is rather unique. Write an analytical essay that describes and analyzes the particular method Walter Dean Myers uses in Steve's journal entries to establish and communicate this point-of-view. In addition, what are the narrative benefits of such a point-of-view? How do these journal entries most effectively tell those parts of the story?

Essay Topic 3

In a persuasive and analytical essay, describe the format of this novel. First, describe the various format(s) Myers uses in this novel. Second, decide whether or not you think one kind of format used in this novel is more effective than the other in communicating the major fictional elements: setting, characterization, imagery, symbolism, plot, action, etc. Be sure to write an essay with a strong argument about the effectiveness of the various format(s) you have described in the first part of the question.

(see the answer keys)

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