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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 is the one topic the narrator says is the only thing to which his father can "sink his teeth?"

2. What is the name of the company for whom the narrator's father works?

3. What is the name of the narrator's sister?

4. What is all the unconscious can do, according to Freud?

5. What does the narrator say is "very funny on the stage--but not to live it"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Chapter 2 primarily about?

2. What does Alex remark about his father's bowel movements in Chapter 4?

3. Who does the narrator's father hold up as someone to emulate? Why?

4. What is the story the narrator tells in the beginning of Chapter 4? Why does he do what he does in this story?

5. What story does Alex tell about his mother and lobster?

6. About what do the narrator's parents coddle him regarding his knee in Chapter 4?

7. What does Alex say his parents complain about regarding his sister and her husband in Chapter 4?

8. How did the narrator's father feel about his job? How did he express his feelings to his family?

9. What does the narrator's mother believe he has been eating in Chapter 2? How does she react?

10. What does the narrator's father urge him to take lessons in? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the role of the character of Dr. Spielvogel in the novel. What literary device does this character embody?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the character of Naomi with that of the narrator's mother. How are these two women similar? How are they different? How does the narrator feel about this connection?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss "Stream of Consciousness" as a stylistic device in the novel. How does this impact the reader's understanding? How does this affect the flow of time?

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