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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 Poppy recall watching when she was sick when she was younger?

2. What is Poppy doing when she injures herself in Vail?

3. Along which New Orleans street does Poppy note walking with Alex?

4. To which of the following authors does Poppy compare Alex?

5. What does Trey shorten Poppy’s name to while in Linfield?

Short Essay Questions

1. Poppy notes wishing to be in Linfield whenever she is sick; why does she note as much?

2. What reason does Alex give for suggesting Poppy not wash her hair when she is ill?

3. How is the Hemingway-themed bar Poppy and Alex visit in San Francisco described?

4. What does Alex agree to photograph while he and Poppy are at a bed-and-breakfast in Sonoma?

5. What problems does Poppy identify in Alex’s online dating profile?

6. What complaint does Poppy voice about Alex’s selections on his dating profile?

7. How does Poppy describe the story of Alex’s she reads in New Orleans?

8. Under what circumstances does Poppy report meeting Guillermo?

9. What challenges does Poppy note Alex finds to assignations in the shower?

10. To what kind of galleries would Julian take Poppy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Much of People We Meet On Vacation concerns itself with the contrast between “normal” and what the characters want for themselves. What does the novel seem to suggest “normal” is, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

There is repeated attention to chain restaurants throughout People We Meet On Vacation. What assumptions might underlie that focus, and what in the text substantiates that idea?

Essay Topic 3

Explicate the symbolism of the protagonist’s name in People We Meet On Vacation.

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