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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 literary character does Allison feel like?

2. What does Will attribute Allison's strange behavior to when he first meets her?

3. How does Allison travel to Linwood, NC?

4. What memory is triggered for Will when he's hunting out of bounds balls during the fivesome game of golf?

5. Which of the following is NOT among the new things that Allison buys in town?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Will gets home from the Sunday golf game and sits in his garage?

2. Why does Allison want to move the old stove into her greenhouse?

3. What is the trouble that the chaplain Jack Curl is having with Will's daughter, Leslie?

4. What does the story about the man who survives the plane crash mean to Allison?

5. How does Allison get the large iron cook stove into the greenhouse?

6. When does Will realize who Allison is?

7. What happy discovery does Allison make when she gets the stove out of the cellar?

8. What is the self-discovery that Allison makes before she goes to Linwood?

9. What does Allison think that she and the runner might have in common?

10. Why does Will obsess over how many shots his father fired on the hunting trip they took together?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Several of the characters in the novel are very religious; two are men of the cloth. Discuss the significance of religion in the novel. Does religion help shape the plot? Does it play a major role in the character development? What about the central conflict of the novel? Does religion play a role in that as well?

Essay Topic 2

Several times in the novel other characters, even his own daughter, suggest that Will married Marion for her money, but through Will's internal dialogue he seems to state otherwise. What is your opinion? Do you think Will is telling the truth or is he just trying to cover his actions with good intentions? Write an essay arguing whether you think Will married for love or for money, using examples from the text to support your point.

Essay Topic 3

Will often refers to the exodus of the Jews from North Carolina as a sign. How does Walker Percy use this motif in the novel? What does Will's fixation with the Jews signify in his personal life? What does it come to mean to the reader? Write an essay in which you discuss the motif and the ways in which the author uses the motif to develop Will's character.

(see the answer keys)

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