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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 job does Caroline have when Father is sleeping?

2. When Caroline runs into Taffy again, what news does Taffy have for her about Valerie?

3. What do the details of Caroline scratching words into leaves, looking for the "criminals," and shouting for Lala imply?

4. What does Caroline say that Valerie tells her is a "fake thing to say" (62)?

5. What public landmark can Caroline see from the lookout?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the symbolic significance of Caroline's and Father's watches?

2. What seems to be happening to Father while they are living in the house, and what textual details support this interpretation?

3. In the beginning of the book, what activity are Caroline and Father engaged in, and why?

4. What do Father and Caroline find when they return to their house in Forest Park?

5. What comparison does Father make in the question he asks the officers who are driving him and Caroline to the farm?

6. What does Father tell Caroline about his plans after they leave the men's camp?

7. What happens when Caroline tries to get to sleep on the first night in the house on the farm, and what is her solution?

8. What privileges has Caroline earned as she has gotten older?

9. What happens when Mr. Walters tells Father the work he wants him to do on Father's first day of work?

10. At the end of Part Two, what two things does Jean Bauer give to Caroline, and how does she demonstrate that she has been listening to Caroline's complaints about her room?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the significance of Father's status as a veteran. How does his service seem to have impacted him, to what extent does it drive the plot, and in what way does it comment on the fates of service members in the contemporary United States? Offer textual support for your ideas and cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Peter Rock has said in interviews that he has conflicted feelings about writing a book based on the true story of the father and daughter found living in Forest Park. Research interviews in which he discusses these feelings and then write an essay that demonstrates how the portrayal of the media and of other characters in the book reflects Rock's divided feelings about the potential for exploitation of people like Father and Caroline. Be sure to offer textual evidence for your claims and cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the symbolic value of the toy horse, Randy, in My Abandonment. Be sure to support your ideas with textual evidence.

(see the answer keys)

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