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. When the boy encounters Crazy Joe in Chapter 5, what does Crazy Joe ask him to do?

2. Which two groups does the boy's mother find out were collaborating together?

3. What is Claire's last expression?

4. Where is Eddie interrogated?

5. When Katie goes to England to attend her daughter's wedding, why does the rest of her family refuse to attend?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why doesn't the boy reveal to his parents what he knows of Eddie's death?

2. Why does the boy's mother begin to treat him unkindly?

3. What does Sergeant Burke reveal about Eddie's death and Tony's involvement?

4. Why is the boy again upset with his mother at the end of Chapter 5?

5. What is Sergeant Burke's purpose for going to the boy's mother and revealing all that he knows of Eddie's death?

6. Why does the boy narrator find it important to his relationship with his mother that he keep her secret?

7. Why does the boy's evening with Irene prove to be a disappointment?

8. Why is Crazy Joe such a valuable character to the story of Eddie's disappearance and death?

9. Who is Danno Bredin?

10. Describe the relationship between Tony, Katie, and the boy's mother.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How might the story progress differently if told through the voice of another character? How does the young boy add to the story's mystery? What might we know differently if one of his parents narrated the story instead?

Essay Topic 2

Good vs. evil is an important theme in the novel. Show how three characters made the wrong decision in regards to Eddie's death and explain what they should have done differently.

Essay Topic 3

What is the significance of disappearance and death as themes in the novel?

1. Are these themes important to keeping the secret a mystery to the boy?

2. How does the story of Eddie's death change for the boy as more people disappear or die?

3. How are the stories told by the characters (Sean, Francis, Frances, Brigid, Claire Falkener, Grenaghan, etc.) all related to this theme of death and disappearance?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 786 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample