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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. Two years after a playground was built at the apartment where Samuel and Elsa lived, how many children had Mamush seen playing at the playground?

2. On the morning Elsa asked Mamush to watch Samuel, where did Samuel say he drove--6 hours there and 6 hours back?

3. How tall was the apartment building Mamush and his mother lived in at the 3300 block of Fullerton in Chicago?

4. After Elsa asked Mamush about his church attendance, how long after his mother left for church did he arrive at Samuel and Elsa's apartment?

5. What month did Mamush remember Elsa called him on a Saturday morning and asked him the last time he went to church?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Samuel used to do when passengers did not want to pay the fare for riding in his cab?

2. How did Mamush spend his time after checking into a hotel in Chicago?

3. Who did Samuel drive to Massachusetts, and how did he plan to turn trips like that into a business?

4. What was the apartment like where Mamush and his mother lived in Chicago?

5. Where does the man in the gray suit that Mamush met at Elsa's take him?

6. How did Mamush persuade the clerk at the courthouse to get him the information he wanted?

7. What did Samuel teach Mamush about lying?

8. When Mamush had called Samuel to tell him that he was coming home for Christmas, what issues was Samuel having with his cab?

9. What did Mamush learn about Samuel and keys when he and Hannah visited Samuel and Elsa?

10. Why did Samuel tell Mamush to never apologize for anything?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What a reader knows about events and characters is determined by the point of view in a book. What is the point of view in the book? How does the point of view influence what readers know about events and characters? How does it help readers connect with and understand characters, especially Mamush?

Essay Topic 2

Mood is an element that authors use to evoke feelings in readers through the use of descriptive language. Mood is the overall feeling that readers have when reading a story. What is the overall mood of Someone Like Us?

Essay Topic 3

Metaphors and similes are figures of speech that are used to make comparisons between things. Metaphors seem to imply an equal comparison, while similes seem to imply a similarity between two things. Does Mengestu use more metaphors or similes in Somone Like Us? How does the use of metaphors or similes help readers comprehend concepts or imagine characters and situations?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,094 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample