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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the real reason for Amelia's absence from church?
(a) Her son Peter has run away.
(b) Travis has forbade her from attending church.
(c) She has fallen ill with influenza.
(d) Her husband Travis has left her and her son Peter with visible bruises.

2. When Ariel suggests she may not attend Juilliard, what alternative does she present to her parents?
(a) Attending Mankato State and continuing to study with Emil Brandt.
(b) Attending Yale University.
(c) Getting married to Karl Brandt.
(d) Staying at home to help her mother and father finish raising Frank and Jake.

3. Who is the only person to give a eulogy at Bobby's funeral?
(a) Ariel.
(b) Frank.
(c) Gus.
(d) Officer Doyle.

4. What topic is at the center of the large argument between Ariel and Ruth on the day of Ruth's chorale performance?
(a) Which of the two women is the better singer.
(b) Which of the two women is the better cook.
(c) Which of the two women knows Emil more thoroughly.
(d) Which of the two women is more ambitious.

5. Who fixes Jake's suit?
(a) Frank.
(b) Nathan.
(c) Ruth.
(d) Ariel.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do Frank and Jake always go after they are done with their grandfather's yard work?

2. Why are Frank and Jake forced to squeeze in next to Karl when he takes them for a ride in his Triumph sports car?

3. When Officer Doyle, Gus, and Frank pass by the Emil Brandt's house in Officer Doyle's Studebaker, who is sitting on the porch with Emil?

4. With whom does Frank sit at the Cadbury church service when Jake stays home sick?

5. When Frank leaves Emil and Lise's house and goes to Warren Redstone's lean-to, who does he see there?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes Frank to abruptly run away from the Indian man and to drag Jake along with him?

2. How does Axel's request of Jake at the hospital reveal differences between Frank and Jake?

3. When Frank and Jake come upon the Indian man and the apparently lifeless man referred to as Skipper, the Indian man says, "Know what I like about railroad tracks? They're always there but they're always moving" (32). When Jake replies, "Just like a river" (32), why is Frank shocked at Jake's reply?

4. What messages is the reader meant to absorb from the conversation between Frank and Warren Redstone in the O'Keefes' basement?

5. What lengths has Gus gone to in order to make sure Nathan does not know of the card games he runs in the basement of the church?

6. During Gus' and Frank's conversation about Nathan's experiences in the war, what two sources of information does Gus warn Frank against heeding?

7. What happens within the conversation Frank overhears between Nathan and Emil after Emil's return from the private hospital?

8. What is the situation that results in Frank, Jake, and Nathan going to the jail in the middle of the night?

9. Where do Frank and Jake go just before Bobby Cole's funeral, and how does Jake's suit sleeve get ripped?

10. What is revealed about the difference between Frank's and Jake's characters in the moment when they are invited by Gus and Officer Doyle to set off fireworks?

(see the answer keys)

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