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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. How is Steve's verdict communicated visually to the reader?

2. Whose name does Steve write down twice on his list on Tuesday, July 14?

3. When Steve's mother comes to visit, how far does he say they are away from each other on either side of the visiting tables?

4. What happens during the church service on Sunday, July 12th?

5. What card game does Steve play in his cell after church on Sunday, July 12th?

Short Essay Questions

1. Once each lawyer has rested her case, Steve writes in his journal on Friday, July 17 that it's understandable why other prisoners are obsessed with appeals. What does he realize about their obsession?

2. What is Briggs' objection to what Bobo is wearing when he testifies?

3. When Briggs questions Henry about identifying King, what does she admit about the photographs the police showed her?

4. How does the medical examiner say Mr. Nesbitt died?

5. What is Sunset's verdict and sentence?

6. Who owns thel gun used in the crime, and is it a legal gun?

7. On Sunday the 12th, how does Steve see his brother Jerry?

8. Why is Ms. Moore not at work the day King came to see her?

9. What does Steve realize about why there are so many fights in prison after church on Sunday, July 12?

10. What does O'Brien say she is going to do on the weekend of the 11th?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A major theme of this book is identity, particularly how Steve's identity is constructed or maintained. Write an analytical essay considering the ways in which Walter Dean Myers makes identity a theme. What are the symbolic or linguistic strategies Myers has employed to communicate and investigate Steve's identity? Be sure to offer a descriptive analysis of Steve's identity and identity crisis, using specific examples.

Essay Topic 2

The time line and time frame of this novel are not chronological, but are told rather in flashbacks. Pick at least three specific examples of flashbacks in this book. With each example, describe and contextualize what came before it and what came after it. In addition, write analytical descriptions of the flashbacks. Be sure to include in your analysis why Myers chose to convey this specific information in flashback structure rather than in chronological order. What does the specific structure of each flashback add to the memory that Myers could not achieve with chronological order?

Essay Topic 3

What does this novel communicate to the reader about personal responsibility and guilt? Write an analysis describing and investigating what Myers thinks about these two issues. Be sure to offer working definitions of each, personal responsibility as well as guilt, and determine, through specific and explicit textual analysis, the ways in which these two issues are similar to each other and/or differ from each other.

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