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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 does Cass refuse to do at the end of Chapter 1?

2. Who is Joey?

3. Micah is plagued by what nagging sense, after his initial conversation with Brink?

4. How does Micah feel regarding his wrong assumptions about Luella?

5. In what month does the novel begin?

Short Essay Questions

1. What unusual act of anger does Micah display at the end of Chapter 3? What prompts this behavior?

2. Discuss Micah’s time in college and what it illustrates about his character.

3. Who is Cass, and what troubles her in Chapter 1?

4. Who is Brink, and why has he come to see Micah in Chapter 2?

5. How did Micah and Cass meet, as revealed in Chapter 3? What did she say that moved him?

6. Who or what is Traffic God? What does this scene illustrate about Micah’s character, as revealed in Chapter 1?

7. Who or what is the redhead on the side of the road, as explained in Chapter 2?

8. How does Brink’s arrival immediately impact Micah’s routine? Explain a few examples from Chapter 2.

9. Who is Yolanda? What do Micah’s interactions with her in Chapter 1 reveal about his character?

10. How does Chapter 1 end? What are two interpretations of this line?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Micah changes over the course of the novel. In what ways does he change and in what ways does he remain the same? By the novel’s end, is he better for these changes? What makes you say this? Explain your opinion using examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the characters of Rosalie, Yolanda, and Lorna. How do these characters illustrate the role of women in the novel? How do they further develop the novel’s themes?

Essay Topic 3

Is Micah a sympathetic character? Why or why not? Answer, supporting your claims with evidence from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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