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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 Owen think that the turtledoves in the Christmas pageant look like?

2. Who is the rector of the Episcopal church?

3. Who is Mr. Brinker-Smith?

4. Fill in the blank: "If he's got so much ________, he's in the wrong business."

5. Which boy always ends up having to kiss "Hester the Molester"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Johnny react to Owen's baseball card apology?

2. How do the other Sunday school students treat Owen?

3. What happens to Harry Hoyt's mother?

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

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

6. How does Owen typically play baseball?

7. What does the audience see Johnny Wheelwright reading, as an adult, in Canada, and how does Johnny react?

8. How does Johnny Wheelwright's mother die?

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

10. How is Owen described physically?

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

Both Owen and Johnny had a tough eleventh year. In an essay, compare/contrast the characters of Owen and Johnny. How are they the same? How are they different? How are their family lives? How has family history affected each of the boys? Finally, explain the ways that the difficulties the boys experienced affected their friendship, and why you think the outcome was, or was not, expected.

Essay Topic 3

While exploring the dorm rooms at Gravesend, the boys are initiated into the worlds of puberty and sexuality. Compare and contrast the boys' expectations of puberty with what they actually experience. Why might John Irving have included sexuality as a major theme within his novel?

(see the answer keys)

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