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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 Sal realize about his relationship with Lucille during his return stay in New York City?

2. How is Rita Bettencourt described?

3. What does Old Bull Lee think of Dean?

4. Who do Sal and his friends stay with in New Orleans?

5. How does Sal get the money to get from Denver to San Francisco?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the vow Sal and Terry make when Sal leaves for New York?

2. What does Sal find out when he calls Chad King after he arrives in Denver?

3. Why does Lee Ann throw Remi out of their house?

4. What does the group of friends do while in New York on New Year's Eve?

5. Who does Sal meet on the bus from Bakersfield to Los Angeles?

6. What is happening in Sal Paradise's life before he meets Dean Moriarty?

7. Why does Dean Moriarty visit Sal at his aunt's house in Patterson, New Jersey?

8. What are Sal's living arrangements while he is in Denver?

9. Why does Sal Paradise travel West?

10. What is Sal's relationship like with Rita Bettencourt?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the two central characters in On the Road, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, on the following:

a. The idea of being on the road.

b. The role of their fathers in their lives.

c. Their attitudes toward women.

Essay Topic 2

a. Why is being on the road so important to the Beat Movement?

b. What transformations or epiphanies do the following characters have, if any, after being "on the road"? Cite specific examples from the book.

- Sal Paradise

- Dean Moriarty

- Ed Dunkel

- Stan Shepherd

Essay Topic 3

Friends play a significant role in Sal Paradise's life.

a. As a result of a rift among his friends, Sal is torn between the more established and secure types, like Chad King, and the more frenzied Dean Moriarty and Carlo Marx. How does being torn between friends represent Sal's inner conflicts between being established or rebellious?

b. How do relationships with friends function in Beat culture?

(see the answer keys)

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