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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 does their friend assist Sal, Dean, and Stan in Mexico?

2. What action does Camille take with Dean and Sal in San Francisco?

3. What does Dean do when he, Sal, and Marylou arrive in San Francisco?

4. Who do Sal, Dean, and Stan meet in a town called Gregoria?

5. Where does Dean take Sal to stay in San Francisco?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Sal do to put a damper on the friendship with Dean and Camille?

2. What happens when Dean returns to see Sal at the hotel?

3. Why does Dean want to take the trip with Sal and Stan?

4. What decision did the other passengers override Sal and Dean on in Sacramento?

5. Who do Sal and Dean ride with in a travel bureau car from San Francisco to Denver?

6. What happens to Sal, Dean, and Marylou's car in Texas?

7. Who does Dean meet at a party in New York?

8. What happens between Sal and Marylou in San Francisco?

9. Whose ranch do Sal, Dean, and the two passengers visit in Colorado?

10. How do Sal, Dean, and Marylou get money so they can make it from Arizona to California?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

a. What are Sal and Dean's views on authority and authority figures? How can they live their lives in absence of authority?

b. What are Sal and Dean rebelling against?

c. How do Sal, Dean, and their friends rebel against what they oppose?

Cite specific examples from the book to support your answers.

Essay Topic 2

a. Are middle-class American values compatible with being Beat or does an individual need to pick one over the other?

b. Do Sal and Dean change their values or way of life depending on their circumstances, or do they hold true to their beliefs? Cite examples from the book.

c. What were some challenges to the Beat way of life that Sal faced and how did he handle them? Cite examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Sal and Dean mention finding "IT" throughout the novel

a. How do Sal and Dean define "IT"?

b. Do they ever find "IT"?

c. Do you think that "IT" has religious or spiritual undertones? Why or why not?

Cite specific examples from the book to support your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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