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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 nearby bar did Hamper and his coworkers often go to after work?

2. What happened when Hamper wanted to get out of his move to Pontiac

3. Why was Hamper given a $2,700 check?

4. What activity did Hamper want to do with Roger Smith, the company president?

5. Why did Hamper take a long time learning his job on the Rivet Line?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who did Bob-A-Lou have a crush on? What does this reveal about his character and how was he different from most of the other factory workers?

2. Describe Dave Steel.

3. At the beginning of Chapter 5, how did Hamper portray the employees of the Michigan Employment Security Commission? Is this a fair picture?

4. What kind of relationship did Gino have with his men? Why did this lead to his eventual transfer away from the Rivet Line?

5. What new vehicle was the factory hired to build? How was this, written in Hamper's account of life, a sign of the times?

6. How did the men on the Rivet Line deal with the supervisor sent in to replace Gino? How was this a sign that they are powerful?

7. Why did General Motors become concerned with the quality of their vehicles? Given Hamper's tone while telling this story, what was his response?

8. "It wasn't every afternoon that I received long-distance phone call from folks at the Wall Street Journal. I didn't remember having any friends who worked there and I was certain that I didn't owe these people any money (pg 171). What do these two sentences reveal about Hamper's character?

9. What was the purpose of Hamper's food matching game (pgs 78-79)? What effect does the game have to the writing of this scene?

10. In the Epilogue, Hamper shows the conflict between his mindset as a shop-rat and his time outside the factory in therapy. How did he show this and which attitude was stronger in his mind?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hamper often describes a small section of his surroundings - his parents' couch, his workbench, Mark's Lounge - but rarely a larger scene such as the city of Flint. What does this say about the scope of his world? How often did he take in the larger scene compared to how often he was focused simply on the task ahead of him?

Essay Topic 2

When did Hamper's job as a riveter because an identity as the Rivethead? How did he live out this identity? What impact did it have for his future?

Essay Topic 3

What effect did unemployment have on Flint? What happened when much of the population was unemployed and why? What do you think the mood of the town was?

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