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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. Where does Lucas make his discovery in Connor's room in Chapter 16?

2. Where do Lucas and Roy go the night of the funeral in Chapter 19?

3. Why does Roy say he is nervous about getting back upstairs in Chapter 13?

4. What does Roy tell Lucas their mother has forgotten to do in Chapter 13?

5. How old is Connor when he dies?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lucas learn about the gun?

2. How does Lucas's mother react when he tells her he is taking Roy to an NA meeting, and what does her reaction reveal about her?

3. What did Lucas know and not know about Zoe?

4. What is Lucas's mother doing when they get home from NA and why is it significant?

5. How does Roy's first NA meeting go?

6. According to Connor, why is it helpful to talk with Zoe?

7. What does Zoe say at the meeting?

8. What advice does Zoe give Lucas when he says he has got too many people to save?

9. When Lucas drops the gun into the river, he tells the river, "You owe me one." What does he mean?

10. How did Zoe protect Roy from the town, and what is significant about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Most of the novel is set in the summer of 1969, but the final chapter takes place 50 years later. In an essay, consider how this affects the novel's central messages.

Essay Topic 2

In an essay, discuss what role the setting -- either the time or place or both -- plays in developing the novel's main ideas.

Essay Topic 3

Choose one passage from Part I and one from Part II. Then write an essay in which you compare and contrast the tones of these two passages, looking specifically at elements such as diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax.

(see the answer keys)

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