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. What does Ma do with Jack's underwear at the police precinct in "After"?

2. What is the name of the lawyer that comes to see Ma at the hospital in "After"?

3. What object fascinates Jack at the police headquarters in "After"?

4. What is the name of the stranger that helps Jack when he escapes from Old Nick in "Dying"?

5. How long does Ma say it's been since she's taken a shower when she and Jack wake up at the hospital in "After"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What steps do Ma and Jack take when they begin to enact their first escape plan in "Dying"?

2. What does Ma do to Jack in order to make their "act" belivable for their first escape plan?

3. What are some of the ideas that Jack and Ma have for escape when they begin brainstorming?

4. What causes the conflict between Ma and her father in "After"?

5. How do Ma and Jack go about enacting "Plan B" in "Dying"?

6. What does Grandma bring on her second visit in "After"? What do she and Ma discuss?

7. What is notable about Old Nick's reaction when he believes that Jack is dead?

8. What causes Jack distress about the shower in "After"?

9. What do Ma and Grandma discuss during Grandma's first visit in "After"?

10. What is the "Plan B" that Ma develops in "Dying"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the media and public's reaction to Ma and Jack's captivity and escape. How realistic is the media's portrayal in the novel? Do you think that the media steps over boundaries when interviewing victims of violent crimes such as this one? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Ma's relationship with Grandma in the novel. When does Grandma first come to see Ma and Jack after their escape? What does Jack think of Grandma? How does his relationship with Grandma grow in the course of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

What is Jack's understanding of Old Nick and his relationship with Ma? How does this understanding change in the course of the story? What does Jack think about Old Nick? How does he describe Old Nick's appearance and behavior?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,064 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample