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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. How many children does Chicki Holt have?

2. What happens when the Lieutenant and his wife reach shore?

3. What does intelligence agent Tommie Hicks ask permission to do?

4. Who is murdered in the opening of the book?

5. When does Peter realize something is wrong?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Peter threaten Brooks Campbell?

2. Why does Peter pick up speed when he sees Damian, and what is the apparent consequence?

3. What various motivations are ascribed for the murder?

4. Why does the U.S. government want to get rid of the Roses?

5. What is Carrie Rose's response to Dred bringing an extra car to the deal?

6. How is the murder on the beach similar to the murder of Francis Cichoski, and what is the significance of the similarity?

7. Why do the Roses sell guns to Dred?

8. What upsets Brooks Campbell about Peter's story?

9. Before Damian sets off his bomb at the airport, the book says he's "forced to make a decision." Describe the decision and its consequences.

10. Why does Damian wear disguises?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the necessity for violence in the novel. At the end of the novel, Hill thinks that it "never ends." Is violence in the novel an unending cycle that is impossible to escape? The novel indicates that Damian comes from a violent household. Does violence beget violence, in the world just as in individual families? When is violence right or wrong in the novel? Is it necessary to kill Damian Rose at the end of the book? Is it necessary or just to hang the three murderers at the beginning of the book? Is it necessary for Peter to kill Harold Hill?

Essay Topic 2

Compare Damian Rose and Carrie Rose. Damian and Carrie are both killers involved in the same plan. What are their motivations, and how are they different as well as similar? Is one of them more sympathetic than the other? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the desire for attention and approval in the novel. How does Damian show his desire for attention and fame (while he is careful to always hide his identity)? Why does Carrie, whose survival depends on people believing she's dead, publish her diary? Why does she desire attention and approval? Why do these characters, who desire attention, commit horrific acts? Can they be compared to children acting out to get attention? Who else in the novel desires attention and approval?

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