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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 the narrator say his desires are in Chapter 4?

2. Who is the narrator sitting next to on the bus in Chapter 4?

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

4. How old is the narrator in the present in Chapter 4, part 2?

5. Where did the narrator eat a seafood dinner with his sister and her fiance in Chapter 4?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does the young Alex believe he has cancer?

3. What does the narrator's mother do to him when he is "bad?" How does he react?

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

5. Where does Alex's family move during his childhood? When does this happen?

6. What story does the narrator tell about Ronald Nimkin?

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

8. What is the one meaningful conversation the narrator speaks of having with his sister in Chapter 3?

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

10. Where does the narrator's father work? What line of business is he in? Where is his "route?"

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

Discuss the historical context of when this novel was published. How did this time period affect the reception of the novel and its subject matter? Could this novel have been received so well ten years prior? Why? Why not?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the misogynistic elements of the novel and particularly those of the main character. How does Alex's behavior toward women exude misogynist traits? How does his phraseology?

(see the answer keys)

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