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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. On board the Roosevelt, how does Admiral Perry live?

2. What does Houdini do in Germany?

3. What is a theme established in the first two chapters?

4. Where are the immigrants ushered as they enter New York Harbor?

5. What does The Boy see on the ice?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Evelyn doing with Younger Brother after Tateh and The girl leave?

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

4. What does The Boy think bronze statues are?

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

6. What is Mother's concern about Younger Brother?

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

8. How is Father sent off on his trip with the Perry expedition to the North Pole?

9. What does The Boy recover from the trash?

10. What crime is Harry K. Shaw accused of committing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and write about the character of Younger Brother in the novel. From the opening description of Younger Brother in the novel, it is predictable what he will become by the end of the story. He is a brilliant young man with limited social skills and limited interests. His interest in pyrotechnics suggests future problems. He is a loner and reticent, even with the sister he loves. Compare Younger Brother with what information you can find on Lee Harvey Oswald.

Essay Topic 2

Do some research and write a brief paper on J. Pierpont Morgan. Political cartoons of his time pictured Morgan as being bigger than Uncle Sam. In fact, he did bail out the U.S. economy at one time. There is even an undertone of racism in Morgan in the novel when he cables the D. A. to give Coalhouse his auto and hang him. From your research, explain how Doctorow's use of Morgan in the novel is believable.

Essay Topic 3

Write about how Doctorow uses The Boy and The Girl to represent change in the novel. Perhaps because he is a young boy when the novel begins wearing sailor suits and grows into the beginnings of young manhood where he discovers girls, change is most noticeable in The Boy. When they meet in Atlantic City, neither of them recall looking eye-to-eye years ago on the street in New Rochelle. Tateh first becomes aware of The Girl's maturation on the train trip out of New York. Show how this growing up process works as a good benchmark for the passing of time in the novel.

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