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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Reverend Eccles desperately crave as he visits the Springers and Angstroms?

2. What derogatory term does Harry use to describe Harrison's role on the basketball team?

3. According to to Tothero in this section, youth is what two things?

4. Where is Harry when he calls Jack Eccles in this section?

5. What does Rabbit repeatedly try to force upon Janice after church?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about Janice Angstrom's inner struggle with her own self-image. How does her relationship with Harry affect the way in which she views herself? In what way do her children serve as surrogates for her husband? Why does she turn to alcohol so often to cope with life? Explore these questions as you chart her character's arc.

Essay Topic 2

John Updike - like Charles Dickens - makes use of evocative names to project character in this novel. Write an essay about three of these names. How do they reflect the essential personality of the person they denote? What does the reader expect with he or she reads these names?

Part 1) Harry Angstrom (strom means storm in German)

Part 2) Marty Tothero (tother means "the other" in Middle English)

Part 3) Jack Eccles

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?

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This section contains 320 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample