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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. Where is Melrose Island located?

2. Tom is correct in guessing that ______________.

3. Tom's mother often made up stories about _____________.

4. Why might Conroy have included the scene with Tolitha's coffin in Chapter Eight?

5. What happens as Tom tries to explain the game of football to Dr. Lowenstein?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Tom admit to hating both men and women equally?

2. How does Lila react to Henry's buying a tiger?

3. What is one of the benefits of Tom's extraordinary childhood?

4. What does the story of Lila's quest to win the Colleton League cookbook contest reveal about her character?

5. How does the death of Rose Ann reveal the nature of the Wingo parents?

6. What does Luke pray for before his father leaves for Korea?

7. How has coaching Bernard helped Tom?

8. What does the robbery that Luke witnesses in New York show us about the city?

9. What is curious about Tolitha and Amos having Henry for a son?

10. Who is the Prince of Tides?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the prevailing ideas of the novel is the concept of dualism; of two sides to the same subject or character. Conroy often develops this duality by placing pairs of characters in stark comparison or contrast to each other to illuminate a concept about either persona or both of them.

Choose ONE of the following pairs of characters and write a compare and contrast essay about them. Be sure to use specific and relevant details from the text. Remember also to analyze the significance, consequence, or reason for the author's juxtaposition of these two figures.

A.) Tom and Savannah.

B.) Grandpa Wingo and Tolitha.

C.) Henry and Lila.

D.) Bernard and Savannah.

E.) Susan and Tom.

F.) Herbert and Lila.

G.) Amos and Luke.

H.) Luke and Henry.

Essay Topic 2

In 1906, George Santayana penned the famous line, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (from "The Life of Reason"). Does Conroy's novel support or refute this assertion?

Write a critical lens essay in which you interpret Santayana's quote, agree or disagree with the quotation as you have interpreted it, and provide evidence in the form of specific literary techniques from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

In the final image of the novel, we see the Wingo family (minus Luke) reunited on a shrimping boat, much as they were in the novel's opening. Do you think the Wingo family has overcome its traumatic past and finally begun to heal?

Write a persuasive essay that develops your point of view on this topic. Be sure to use specific and sound reasoning from the text to support your position.

(see the answer keys)

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