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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 profession is Steve pursuing?

2. Why does Steve not show up for math class?

3. What does the lot in Chapter 3 smell like?

4. To whose territory does Cleveland High School belong?

5. How much does someone offer Motorcycle Boy to kill someone?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the importance of delaying the appearance of Motorcycle Boy until the third chapter?

2. In Chapter 2, with what does Steve try to get Rusty-James to confront and deal?

3. Why does Rusty-James resent Steve's presence on the beach?

4. What is Rusty-James' driving motivation?

5. Why does Rusty-James feel that gangs are good despite what Steve and Motorcycle Boy tell him?

6. Why does Rusty-James steal hubcaps?

7. Why does Smokey believe he would be president of a gang and Rusty-James would be a lieutenant?

8. What dose Steve mean when he says that he cannot keep on thinking for Rusty-James?

9. Why does Rusty-James like the ocean?

10. What does Motorcycle Boy mean when he tells Steve, "loyalty is his only vice?"

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the significance of Steve's being on vacation, going to school, and having a steady girlfriend at the onset of the novel? Find descriptions from the text to support your answer and to provide evidence for your opinion.

Essay Topic 2

Explain how the author's word choices for Rusty-James' dialogue provide authenticity to the novel. Does it endear Rusty-James' to the reader? What does it reveal about the character, his background, and environment? Find descriptions from the text to support your answer and to provide evidence for your opinion.

Essay Topic 3

How does the perspective of distance between the past and the present affect the main protagonist, Rusty-James? Analyze how Rusty-James' character has/has not changed during the five years since the night of the knife fight.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 552 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample