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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 does Allison wash the cave clay off of Will and his clothes?

2. What time of day is it when Kitty wakes Will in his car?

3. Complete the quote, "Everybody thinks that there are only two things: war which is a kind of life in death, and peace which is ______."

4. What happens when the hiker puts his hand on Allison's thigh?

5. Whose deathbed quote comes to Will's mind as he looks at himself in the Mercedes rearview mirror?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Allison feel about doing the errands that Will asks her to do?

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

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. When Will is thinking things over in his Mercedes, what does he decide the name of the century should be?

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

6. When Will sees himself in the mirror of his Mercedes after leaving the greenhouse, what does he think he looks like?

7. How does Allison find Will?

8. After Will falls into the greenhouse, what is it that makes Allison think she knows who he is before she sees his face?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

The Second Coming is populated with a lot of single, older men. Discuss the role of the old men like Mr. Ryan, Mr. Arnold, and Father Weatherbee in the novel. What do you think these older men represent in the novel? Why are there so many of them? What happens to these old men in the end?

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.

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