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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. What information about the family secret does the boy know in Chapter 3 that his parents do not know?

2. What does Crazy Joe say Larry's mysterious woman turns into?

3. From which part of the traditions of both Protestants and Catholics does the boy derive excitement?

4. What happens to both Brigid and Larry in Chapter 2?

5. Where did the shoot-out of 1922 occur?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the disappearance of Uncle Eddie such a mystery?

2. What memory does the boy have of an interaction between him and Crazy Joe?

3. Why does the boy throw a rock at Sergeant Burke's police car?

4. Why does the boy try to run away in Chapter 3?

5. Why is the boy uncomfortable with the sympathy he feels for the police after Rory Hannaway's death?

6. Why doesn't the author ever reveal the narrator's first name?

7. What happens to Frances and Francis?

8. Describe the boy's relationship with his mother.

9. How do we see the boy react and respond to his circumstances in Chapter 1 instead of accepting them at face value?

10. How is the novel The Shan Van Vocht an example of female symbolism?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are several symbols discussed in the novel. Discuss the use and meaning of disappearance, death, fire, and tradition.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Aunt Katie and the boy's mother.

1.) Why does the boy's mother react negatively toward Katie?

2.) Compare and contrast the women's behavior toward the boy narrator.

3.) Ultimately, they both experience the loss of the same man. How does it affect each of them?

Essay Topic 3

Which parts of the story and characters of the novel do you identify with? Why?

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