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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 does Rabbit brag about having eaten Chinese food?

2. How does Rabbit know Ben Shamberger?

3. From what television show does Rabbit admit stealing his religious analogy about the tree and the waterfall?

4. What are Tothero's shelves made of?

5. For what ostensible expense does Harry give Ruth fifteen dollars at the end of dinner?

Short Essay Questions

1. What has Rabbit decided about Ruth by the end of this section?

2. How is Harry and Lucy's first meeting dangerous?

3. How does Harry meet up with Tothero?

4. What does Reverend Kruppenbach believe is the true vocation of a preacher?

5. Why is Ruth sick and nervous of late?

6. Why does Harry leave Janice at the end of this section?

7. What does Harry Angstrom confess to Eccles that he believes is his place in the universe?

8. Describe Ruth Leonard.

9. Why does Harry take off his shoes on his walk up Mt. Judge?

10. What does Joyce Eccles call Harry, and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The specter of death is ambiguous in RABBIT, RUN. It is at once remote and inconceivable, and sudden and horrific. Some characters have come to expect it at any moment, while others are suddenly struck down by it. Focusing on Tothero, Mrs. Smith, and Rebecca Angstrom, write an essay on death in the novel. How do characters understand the end of their lives? How do survivors cope with it?

Essay Topic 2

The world of RABBIT, RUN is one in which the past and present become intermingled. Harry constantly looks to the past for inspiration and comfort. Other people look back with a certain sadness. Write an essay about the past's role in the novel:

Part 1) How do Harry and Janice look back on the beginning of their relationship with a mixture of yearning and disdain? What did each expect from the relationship? How did the birth of Nelson change things?

Part 2) What is the high point of Harry Angstrom's life? What memory from this high water mark does he repeatedly recall throughout the novel? What does this memory do for him?

Part 3) What specific episodes from Ruth's past does she recall as she lays by the swimming pool with Harry? How do these memories inform her expectations from Harry? What does she expect and fear?

Essay Topic 3

Jack Eccles is one of the more dynamic figures in the novel. He represents a new attitude toward religion and its place in a modern world. Write an essay about Jack Eccles and his struggle with both the extremely traditional view of his vocation (as represented by Reverend Kruppenbach) and the secular modernist view (as represented by his wife). How does Eccles' relationship with Harry make manifest this inner struggle to understand his own faith?

(see the answer keys)

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