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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. When the Negro man goes to the back door and asks for Sarah, what happens?

2. In reality, who are the baron and his daughter?

3. Why is Houdini's mothers grave covered with a mound of small stones?

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

5. What does Father observe about the game of baseball as opposed to the way they played at Harvard twenty years before?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Younger Brother's first act as a revolutionary and outlaw?

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

4. What brings Younger Brother back to life after his breakup with Evelyn?

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

6. What happens to Sarah at the rally?

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

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

9. What becomes of Younger Brother?

10. What is Sarah's funeral like?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write your opinion of E. L. Doctorow's writing style. Include such things as his omitting quotation marks and writing in very short sentences. Cite specific passages in the novel that you think either did or did not convey (1) the feeling of the characters, (2) the imagery of the day, (3) the suspense of the plot, or any other concept you feel the novel addresses. How much does Doctorow's use of fictionalized real characters add to the interest of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Look up information of Theodore Dreiser and write about his impact on the American novel. It is interesting that Doctorow chooses Dreiser to put in his book. It might be a message about his own feelings about book critics. Dreiser was never recognized in his own time for the quality of his novels. Perhaps his most famous novel, AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, was made into a movie in the 1950s called A PLACE IN THE SUN. What is your opinion about why Doctorow chose this novelist to include briefly in RAGTIME.

(see the answer keys)

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