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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. Hank meets a young woman on his way home from his racquetball partner's place. What does she say to him that Hank agrees with?

2. What is Hank's full name?

3. After returning to his office and hearing about his phone call, Hank decides he must deal with the issue. Who stops him on the way out?

4. What medium does Campbell Wheemer like to use as a teaching tool?

5. What does Dickie Pope advise Hank to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. After meeting with his colleagues and before Hank leaves his office to go home, Hank looks around his office and reminisces about his stint as interim chair. What is his assessment?

2. In the Prologue, how does Hank explain that his life was not easy as a child?

3. Who does Hank meet after he leaves his friend's house? What is his reaction to this?

4. After seeing Bodie in her office and going to his own office, Hank is on his way out but is stopped by a couple of his colleagues. Who are they and what do they want?

5. When he was eight, Hank's father did get a dog for him. What was the dog like, where did Mr. Devereaux get it, and what was Hank's reaction? Why did he react that way?

6. Why is Hank under pressure from his department colleagues at the beginning of the book? What does this result in at a staff meeting?

7. When Hank gets home from the staff meeting, who is he greeted by? What does Hank find amusing about Teddy's reaction?

8. The morning after Hank is hit in the nose at a staff meeting, he walks across campus and notices a construction site. What will this site be and what does Hank think about it?

9. The morning after his news debut, Hank realizes the film has been shown on Good Morning, America, much to everyone's amusement. Hank heads to see Campbell Wheemer. What is Hank's nickname for Wheemer? Why does he call him that? How is Wheemer a contrast to Hank?

10. What did Hank's mother make Hank promise to do if he got a dog? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Humor is an element of memoir writing that is often employed by authors. Why is it used? How can it enhance a novel? What two types of humor does Russo use in "Straight Man"? Give four examples of Richard Russo's use of humor where you feel the pace and the theme of Straight Man has been enhanced by its use.

Essay Topic 2

For the better part of the novel, Hank seems to be suffering what is popularly known as mid-life crisis. What actions and reactions of Hank's show that he might be having a crisis of identity? Explain where this crisis of identity might arise from.

Essay Topic 3

Dialogue often serves to reveal characters and their traits, as well as events. It is often used as an alternative to exposition. How is dialogue used as a literary technique to move a narrative along, and specifically how is it utilized in Straight Man? Cite, in detail, one example of how dialogue is used effectively in the novel.

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