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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 does the person praying at the grave believe is speaking to them?

2. Where did Ms. Wheelwright meet her new boyfriend?

3. In chapter 3, why does Owen enter Tabitha's bedroom?

4. Who lets Owen's Christmas responsibilities slip to his parents?

5. How is Owen referred to in the text?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the Brinker-Smiths?

2. What was the conflict that Dan and Tabitha encountered when they were planning their wedding ceremony?

3. What is Owen's view of Tabitha's dressmaking dummy?

4. Why does Owen react so strongly to Johnny's opinion of his mother's death?

5. What is the response from Johnny's family after Tabitha's funeral?

6. Describe Johnny's cousins.

7. How does Johnny Wheelwright's mother die?

8. What is significant about Johnny Wheelwright's family?

9. What does Owen think he sees when he enters Tabitha's bedroom?

10. What does Johnny see when he travels to Tabitha's grave for the first time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Organized religion plays a major role throughout the novel, creating both conflict and resolution. Choose one of the questions below as the focus for your essay, and support your answers with examples from the text.

1) Compare/contrast the upbringing that both Owen and Johnny had with organized religion. How did their upbringings affect how they acted, and how they viewed the differently situations they encountered throughout the novel?

2) Explore at least three major events in the novel where religious conflict is introduced. What is the significance of that conflict? How is religion used at that those points? Is religion used effectively to get a message across?

3) As an adult, Johnny wavers on whether he believes in religion. What events lead him toward religion, and what events have led him away?

Essay Topic 2

Overall, there are two major mindsets in the novel of how you progress through life: with caution, or with passion. In an essay, discuss at least five characters who progress through life with caution, and five characters who progress with passion. For each character, give a short explanation as to why they have landed on each list. Then, choose one character from either side of the list and argue why they should have lived their life the opposite way. What does John Irving seem to be saying is the better way to live your life? Which side of the list had happier live, better outcomes?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, John Irving chooses to present the reader with both the childhood version and the adult version of Johnny. Compare/contrast the presented characteristics of both the child and adult versions of Johnny. What events in the novel may have contributed to the man that Johnny Wheelwright grows to become. What evidence do you see to back up this theory? What reasons do you think John Irving has for interrupting the childhood stories of Johnny with the moments of Johnny as an adult. What messages is he trying to send? What is added to the story by seeing Johnny as an adult?

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