View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do the cars come from that are used in the attacks?

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

3. Who does Coalhouse plan to kidnap and exchange for Willie Conklin?

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

5. Most people think that it was the work of a group of armed men, but what does the newspaper suggest?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How have the fortunes of Tateh and The girl changed?

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

5. That spring, what happens at the Matteawan State Prison Farm?

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

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

8. What causes Younger Brother to run out of the parlor one evening after dinner?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Write a paper comparing Evelyn Nesbit with notorious movie stars of the 20th century. A good comparison might be to Marilyn Monroe. Compare their beginnings, Evelyn's posing nude for a statue and Marilyn appearing nude in Playboy Magazine, their notoriety in the press, and their many romantic entanglements. Doctorow suggests that Evelyn is the model for all the show business women who followed her. This should be a fun paper to write.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 723 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample