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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who brings the Airstream turkey?
(a) The Modern Museum of Art.
(b) The state of New York.
(c) The Natural History Museum.
(d) Buddy.

2. What does Ellen Cherry do to make up for her failed celebration with Boomer?
(a) Make Boomer's favorite breakfast.
(b) Have sex with Boomer.
(c) Clean the Turkey.
(d) Throw away her easle.

3. Why does Ellen Cherry Charles leave art school?
(a) She wants to make art about life not school.
(b) She feels that it is too stuck up.
(c) Her father and uncle drag her out of class.
(d) Her parents refuse to keep paying for it.

4. After sleeping together, what do Ellen Cherry and Boomer leave behind?
(a) A cassette tape and a camera.
(b) A book, Boomer's shirt, and a shoe.
(c) A shoe and a $20 bill.
(d) A dirty sock, a silver spoon, and a can of beans.

5. How do Painted Stick and Conch Shell know Jezebel?
(a) She finds the observatory where they are originally housed.
(b) She is a priestess in the observatory.
(c) She admires them when she visits the observatory.
(d) Her parents own the observatory.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Spike's birth name?

2. What does Ellen Cherry Charles do while she and Boomer Petway are in the rodeo town near Idaho?

3. Why does Can 'o Beans want to be left behind on the way to New York?

4. What do Conch Shell and Painted Stick maintain that King Solomon is not?

5. How do Painted Stick and Conch Shell think Boomer and Ellen Cherry can help them?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ellen Cherry give up her art?

2. What do we learn about Ellen Cherry in the first few sections of the novel?

3. Describe Ellen Cherry's eye game.

4. Can 'o Beans says that "imprecise speech is one of the major causes of mental illness in human beings." What do you think is meant by this?

5. Do you see any irony in Salome's determination only to do the Dance of the Seven Veils if she can have John the Baptist's head on a platter? Why or why not?

6. When Ellen Cherry reflects on Boomer's fear that she loves art more than him, she admits that it's true, but adds that she loves art more than herself too. What does this tell us about Ellen Cherry and about her opinion of art?

7. Patsy suspects Buddy of seeking fame and fortune through his preaching. Does this seem likely to you, based on what you know so far about Buddy?

8. All of the objects are given a gender except Can 'o Beans. Why is this significant?

9. Verlin, Patsy, and Buddy go to see a "miracle", which turns out to be nothing more than a shadow on a freezer. What does an incident like this seem to say about people's relationship to religion and mystery? Does it cast a reflection on Buddy's miracle?

10. The first line in this section is "the pendulum swung yet again." It is referring to Can 'o Beans account of religious history. What does this suggest about religion?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,312 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample