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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. When Jody and Moby meet after Moby's swim practice, what does Jody tell Moby?

2. What does the narrator's mother think his father teaches?

3. When Sarah Byrnes had appeared at Moby's house as Moby was revising the Huey-Dewey article, who was with Sarah Byrnes?

4. When the story opens, what is the only thing that the narrator has from his father?

5. According to what Moby tells the hospital counselor, when did Dale Thornton drop out of school?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe his hospitalized friend without spirit in her eyes?

2. According to the bumper sticker on Ellerby's car, what are the wages of sin?

3. How do the counselors on the psych unit know that Sarah Byrnes can hear them?

4. Why does the narrator's English teacher call him Double-E?

5. When Moby returns to his desk after Jody and Mark decide to remain in the CAT class, Moby finds a note waiting for him. Who is the note from and what does it say?

6. How does Moby describe his high school principal?

7. What reason does Mark Brittain give to Ms. Lemry as an explanation for why he and Jody want to drop the CAT class?

8. Back in junior high, what was the deal that Sarah Byrnes offered to Dale Thornton while they were in Moby's attic room?

9. According to what the narrator's hospitalized friend told him, why were her burns never surgically corrected?

10. What does the tattoo on Dale Thornton's forearm say?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mr. Mautz wears different masks in the story. Both a respected school vice-principal and a bully to his students, Mautz is a study in contradictions. Identify, then compare and contrast the different sides/personas of Mr. Mautz. How would the entire plot have been affected if Mautz had not been successful at deceiving those around him? Why is it necessary for Matuz to wear different masks? Explain your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast how the character of Sarah Byrnes changes as the story progresses. Be sure to include your assessment of her character when she is first introduced in the story, when she is caught faking her mental health break, when she searches for her mother, and when she is adopted at the end of the story. Use examples from the story to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

In many ways, the novel is a series of contrasts designed to heighten the reader's awareness and draw the reader deeper into the story and the intricacies of each of the story's characters. Identify at least three contrasts that are used in the novel. Describe these contrasts and determine how they impact the story's plot, as well as the reader's emotional involvement in the characters' lives. If these identified contrasts were not included in the story, what impact would their absence have on the storyline, the characters' development and the readers' involvement?

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