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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 drug does Will have to take to keep him stable?

2. What does Allison do for Will after his fall?

3. How old was Will when we went on the cross country trip with his father?

4. What does Will wear when he leaves the nursing home to get Allison from the greenhouse?

5. Who is Kitty waiting on before she goes to the greenhouse to get Allison?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened to the tiger skeleton that used to be in the cave?

2. What plan do Allison and Will make for their futures?

3. What is the first thing Kitty says after Will recognizes her when she wakes him up in his car in the parking lot?

4. What does Allison enjoy about taking care of Will that makes her think she should nurse comatose patients?

5. What does Will dream that the country club becomes in the future while he is sleeping in his car?

6. What makes Allison feel like she needs another person in her life?

7. What happens in the secret room that Jack Curl shows Will at the convalescent home?

8. Why does Will get into a fight with Kitty at the nursing home?

9. Where has Will's daughter, Leslie, moved while he has been away at the cave and the greenhouse?

10. What forces Will to leave the cave?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, Allison has lost her memory because of the treatments she received at the mental institution and Will has repressed some troubling memories from his childhood that keep returning to him when he has his spells. Write an essay discussing the theme of memory from the novel, comparing and contrasting how different characters' memories shape the plot and affect how we as a reader react to those characters.

Essay Topic 2

Walker Percy revisits several themes or motifs throughout the novel including: memory, mental illness, self-discovery, independence, religion, nature, and love. Can you think of other themes or motifs from the novel? Write an essay discussing the most important theme or motif from the novel; that is, the one you think the author discusses the most or seems to feature as being the most important. Provide examples from the text to support your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Two of the main characters, Will and Allison, are both diagnosed with a form of mental illness in the novel. Discuss the theme of mental illness and how Walker Percy treats these two "mentally ill" characters versus the "mentally healthy" characters. What do you think this difference indicates about the author's position on the treatment of mentally ill patients? Use examples from the text and compare and contrast the treatment of Will and Allison with two other "mentally healthy" characters.

(see the answer keys)

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