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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. Who does Morgan want to meet?

2. What kind of music does Coalhouse play?

3. What happens to Sarah as she tries to approach a man she thought was the President?

4. Who captures Mother's interest in Atlantic City?

5. What does Younger Brother tell Emilio Zapata?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Morgan's buildings on Madison Avenue in Murray Hill.

2. What happens to Sarah at the rally?

3. What plans do Father and Mother make to get away from the Coalhouse problem?

4. How does Mother's and Father's relationship change in Atlantic City?

5. What does Father decide to do to make up for the time he has not spent with The Boy?

6. What does Morgan think about making automobiles available to the masses?

7. What causes the theater to shake where Houdini is performing?

8. Why does J. P. Morgan want to meet with Henry Ford?

9. What does Younger Brother do that the family is completely unaware of?

10. What becomes fashionable because of Morgan's obsession with Egyptology?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

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

Coalhouse Walker, Jr., plays Scott Joplin ragtime in the novel. Do some research and write a brief paper about the composer Scott Joplin. Why does Doctorow use the musical genre as the title of his book? To what extent do you think the music of an era defines that era?

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This section contains 655 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample