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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 it about Owen that fascinates the person from Tabitha's past?

2. How does Barb Wiggins tease Owen Meany?

3. What city do Owen and Johnny travel to on their holiday from school?

4. Who asks Johnny to reevaluate his future, saying that he doesn't have much time?

5. How does Owen respond to Barb Wiggins' teasing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What significant events happen when Randall White is elected headmaster?

2. As an adult, what is Johnny discussing with Canon Mackie?

3. What chilling event happens after Owen believes he has seen his own death?

4. What does Owen look like when he is 16?

5. What does Tabitha's old singing teacher tell the boys?

6. What happens with Owen's collegiate schooling after he is kicked out of Gravesend Academy?

7. What habit has Hester taken up, and how does it affect her life?

8. What goes wrong during the Christmas pageant?

9. Who is Katherine Keeling?

10. What does Owen hope to do upon graduation from the University, and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Hester Eastman plays the role of an important romantic interest for both Johnny and Owen. In an essay, compare/contrast young Hester Eastman with the adolescent Hester Eastman. What characteristics did the boys find attractive about her at both ages? How would you describe the relationships that Johnny and Owen had with Hester? How were they the same? How were they different? Which relationship seemed to make more sense? Even though there were deeply unhealthy behaviors in both, which relationship could you have seen lasting longer? Why?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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