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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 does Ellen Cherry do to make up for her failed celebration with Boomer?

2. When Boomer Petway is in high school, he is the best at what?

3. What is Ellen Cherry's job in New York?

4. Who brings the Airstream turkey?

5. Who sleeps with Buddy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do we learn about Boomer Petway in the first few sections of the novel?

2. What do you think Robbins is saying by personifying objects and having them secretly move?

3. Robbins writes, "Those people who recognize that imagination is reality's master, we call 'sages', and those who act upon it, we call 'artists.'" What do you think he means by this and why is the distinction important?

4. What do you think is significant about the fact that Boomer and Ellen Cherry wake up Painted Stick and Conch Shell?

5. What are some ways you can interpret Boomer's spy coat sculpture in which he declares his love for Ellen Cherry in a 500 different encoded messages?

6. 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?

7. Describe Abu Hadee's history, as it's recounted in "The Fourth Veil"?

8. What is the relationship between the first veil that is revealed and the actions of the novel so far?

9. 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?

10. Describe why Boomer says he feels guilty about his success as an artist.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore the significance of Isaac and Ishmael's. Describe the symbolism of the restaurant as well as it's political implications. The narrator talks a lot about this in the fourth veil, when the restaurant is introduced. Include this information, but don't limit your discussion to it. You may also want to consider the significance of Spike and Abu's backgrounds and characters.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the historical account in this novel, including Robbins' interpretations of the events with the generally accepted historical view. This requires some basic research. Be careful to limit your comparison to a manageable sequence of events. For example, do not try to track the entire historical background from the first temple to modern day Jerusalem. Choose a coherent part of the history detailed in the novel and limit yourself to that. You could, for example, choose to focus on the Jerusalem from the first temple to the second. Or, you might focus on the 20th century conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Essay Topic 3

What position does the narrator, or the novel as a whole, take on organized religion? Explain the position and find at least three pieces of supporting evidence to show how you arrived at this conclusion. If you decide that the novel is critiquing organized religion, does it offer any alternatives?

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This section contains 1,423 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample