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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 were most of the mourners at Sarah's funeral?

2. Who cares for the baby while Sarah lay dying in the hospital?

3. Why does Father go to the police?

4. Who becomes alarmed when a full military assault on the museum is suggested?

5. How does the knowledge of Coalhouse Walker's activities eventually become known?

Short Essay Questions

1. After Coalhouse arranges for his gang to escape, what happens to him?

2. What is Sarah's funeral like?

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

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

5. Why is Emma Goldman arrested after Coalhouse takes over the museum?

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

7. How do the police learn about the history of Coalhouse Walker, Jr.?

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

9. What happens to Sarah at the rally?

10. Why does Father return alone to New York, leaving the family in Atlantic City.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write about Harry Houdini's fixation on finding a way to communicate with his dead mother. The attachment of Houdini to his mother is a documented fact. He also spent the rest of his life looking for someone who could make contact with the dead. In the process he became an authority on fakes and charlatans who claimed special powers to channel the dead. In your paper, explain why you think Doctorow used Houdini as a major character in the book? Point out the societal changes that were happening at that time that Houdini symbolizes.

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

Describe the rags-to-riches story of Tateh, aka Baron Ashkenazy. Tateh's story is the embodiment of the American dream--the poor immigrant who eventually achieves success. While you write this account focus on the moral shift in Tateh's thinking. Note the difference in his uptight morality that drove his wife and Evelyn away in the early part of the story and his romping with Mother in Atlantic City as the reinvented Baron Ashkenazy. There are even sexual overtones to the scene where they are searching for The Boy and The Girl and eventually they marry.

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This section contains 780 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample