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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 stories does Grandfather tell The Boy?

2. What happens when Tateh is beaten by the police and the train The Girl is on starts to move?

3. What does Evelyn receive in her divorce settlement?

4. What does Father manufacture?

5. Where do the police find the mother of the baby?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the lead workers doing as Perry comes leisurely behind?

2. What does Tateh notice about The Girl on their train trip.

3. What idea does Tateh have that makes them money.

4. What is the gossip about Evelyn's disappearances to visit The Girl?

5. What infatuation comes over Mother's Younger brother?

6. Why does socialite Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish bring Houdini and circus freaks to her house?

7. How do the second generation Irish feel about the new immigrants?

8. What is Father's condition when he returns form the Arctic?

9. What does Younger Brother do for a political rally in Rye, New York?

10. What is Perry's attitude towards the Esquimo people?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On their trip out of New York, Tateh observes a completely different country from what he had known in New York. Doctorow says that for the first time Tateh began to think he might be able to live in America. Use examples of what Tateh and The Girl see on their trip that are so different from anything they had ever seen in New York and explain how those sights began to change Tateh's outlook on America. Then look at Freud's visit to New York and what they force him to go see. Give your opinion as to whether Freud might have had a different opinion of America if he had seen the more rural side of the country.

Essay Topic 2

Write your personal review of RAGTIME and make a recommendation for other readers. Write this paper as though you are a book reviewer for a large newspaper or national magazine. Be honest about what you liked or did not like about the book. [That it was required reading in class does not count as a reason to dislike the book.] Be specific when giving your reasons by quoting passages from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Look up information of minstrel shows which were popular in America from the late 1800s through the 1930s. Describe them and give your opinion about them as entertainment. Even Scott Joplin performed in minstrel shows during his lifetime. Al Jolson, a Jewish man, became famous blacking his face and performing in minstrels. It was of course a demeaning representation of black people as a whole and contributed to the stereotype of the race that went on into the movies until the late 1950s. Discuss how much you think such entertainments delayed the civil rights movement in America.

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