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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 Norm say he has spent half his life studying to the nurse in the hospice care facility in 2016?

2. How old is Penny in 2005?

3. Who is the 13-year-old girl that is described in the opening of the novel?

4. What kind of cereal does Penny buy at the grocery store after her father's death?

5. What numeral is Penny's nose said to look like in 2005?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Penny keep her family associations with Nicotine secret when she first meets the inhabitants?

2. What is in the vacant bedroom across from Sorry's room? What is its history?

3. What characters are present in the opening scene of the novel? What is their significance in the plot of the story?

4. What is the main event that takes place in the scene from 2005? Why is this event significant?

5. Who are the inhabitants at Nicotine when Penny first visits?

6. What is the symbolic significance of the water glasses that recur in the story?

7. What are Penny's impressions when she goes to the Stayfree house with Sorry for a potluck?

8. How is Norm's childhood home described when Penny finds it in 2016?

9. Where is the opening scene of the novel set? What is the significance of this setting?

10. What leads up to the sexual encounter between Penny and Jazz?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the characters of Jazz and Sorry in the novel. How old are these characters? What are their likes and dislikes? How well do they get along? How are they different from one another?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss some of the topics for advocacy among the inhabitants of the CHA squatter houses. What important (and less important) issues do they take to task? How do they go about making their voices heard? Do you empathize with them? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the different squatter houses under the umbrella of the CHA. What is the theme of each house? What are the conditions of each house? Who are the houses' inhabitants?

(see the answer keys)

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