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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. Who smokes cigarettes during dinner in Chapter 4?

2. What does Joel do after witnessing the singing and exhortations during the religious service?

3. How many children does Joel's aunt Ellen have?

4. Which of the following cities had Randolph not tried to mail a letter to a man named Pepe Alvarez?

5. Who does Joel ask questions about to Amy that she ignores in Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Zoo tell Joel she has been shooting a gun while giving him his haircut?

2. How does Randolph comfort Joel at the beginning of Chapter 12?

3. What is the nature of Joel and Florabel's conversation in Chapter 5?

4. What does Sydney Katz ask of Sam Radclif at the beginning of the book?

5. What does Zoo do after Jesus Fever dies?

6. What does Joel believe led to his mother's death?

7. What does Joel find in the mailbox at the Landing at the end of Chapter 5?

8. How do Randolph and Amy react to Joel's questions regarding a strange woman he saw in Chapter 4?

9. How does Amy react to Joel's questions about his father in Chapter 2?

10. What is the nature of Joel's first conversation with Florabel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the role that traditions played in the lives of those living at Skully's Landing. How does the author portray religious, mystical and cultural traditions in the book, and what information is learned through these representations?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the book's characters' purpose and motivation for using of manipulation. What motivations did Randolph and Amy have for continually manipulating Joel into staying at the Landing first by stopping his letters to his aunt and later by taking him away when his aunt would come to visit him?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author's portrayal of family in the book. What about the author's tendency to paint a flawed portrait of family in the book suggest about his own feelings towards the nature of familial bonds?

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