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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 bothers Dick about Elsie?

2. Why does Tom not go along to empty the lobster pots?

3. What does Dick tell May when he returns home from Miss Perry's?

4. What does Dick drop off his sons, Charlie and Tom, to do?

5. What is Elsie Buttrick's job?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author use irony in the scenario on the dock with the cops and the drug-sniffing dog?

2. What does Parker's cunning behavior begin to signify?

3. What do Miss Perry's walking sticks represent to Dick?

4. What is revealed about Dick's leadership skills on the documentary trip?

5. Explain Dick's thoughts as he begins to understand the complications of the drug smuggling situation with Parker.

6. What is the Neptune?

7. How does Dick's attraction to Elsie begin?

8. What are the differences between how May and Elsie view Dick's boat project?

9. What is Dick's internal struggle regarding needing people and not wanting to appear that he does?

10. How does the author show that May is probably aware of Dick's affair with Elsie?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the ongoing conflict between Dick and Parker. What is the source of the conflict? Why does it perpetuate?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the concept of loneliness as it exhibits in the story. Which of the characters are lonely? Are they all lonely in some way? Explain the loneliness and the methods and attempts to overcome it.

Essay Topic 3

Striving takes on an almost human persona in this story. What is this literary technique called? Cite examples that support this position.

(see the answer keys)

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