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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 day was Hamper finally called in to work at the car factory?

2. How much time was required for an employee to secure his job at GM?

3. In the summer and fall of 1977, how many hours a day did Hamper work?

4. Why did Hamper's dad yell at him for his bad grades?

5. What did Hamper think was Dan-O's most amusing prank?

Short Essay Questions

1. When did the GM assembly line begin to look like an attractive option to Hamper? How did this demonstrate a change in Hamper's thinking?

2. How did Hamper's marriage to Joanie end? Given his tone in the writing, what do you think his attitude was during this time?

3. "I'm thinking that rock stars, even dead ones, don't come cheap" (pg xix). In the context of the Prologue, what does this quote mean?

4. Hamper ends Chapter 3 with the sentence, "The money was right, even if we weren't" (pg 43). What does this mean?

5. What story does Hamper tell involving Lesley Gore's music? How does this story show that Hamper, if only for an hour and twelve minutes, transcended the shop-rat mindset?

6. When Hamper tells the story of people who disagree with the shop-rats' drinking, he writes much of the story in capital letters. What literary effect does this visual change have on the story?

7. Hamper's father, though not a model of determination or reliability, often berated his son because of his poor grades. How did his cursing set the tone of their conversations about school?

8. What religious background did Hamper have during his childhood? How did religion shape his move into adulthood?

9. What pattern emerged in junior-high that led Hamper to consider the life of a shop-rat? How did he begin to identify with his family who had worked in the factory?

10. How does Hamper describe the Cab Shop the first time he goes there? What about the description is the most informative about the scene?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How was Hamper involved in writing throughout the course of his life? How did his attitude toward it change?

Essay Topic 2

Several times throughout the book, Hamper gives foreshadowing of his mental breakdown. Where are these references? Do they prepare the reader for what is coming?

Essay Topic 3

What makes a good autobiography? Does Hamper's book fulfill those requirements? What are the pros and cons of a fictionalized life compared to an autobiography?

(see the answer keys)

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