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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 can be said about Hank's childhood?

2. What is near the center that is home to a large number of birds?

3. What does Hank buy, in anticipation of owning a dog?

4. From his meeting with Dickie Pope, what does Hank find out is true?

5. What does Hank suggest to his daughter that they do about her situation?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. Where is the second place Hank goes to the night of his television report? What happens there? What does Hank end up doing?

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

5. What does Hank say in the Prologue about his father's life after the arrival of the dog? What does he say about his relationship with his father?

6. When Hank gets home from his visit to Julie, he has a conversation with Billy Quigley. What are Billy's characteristics and what is the conversation about?

7. What events transpired after the dog arrived at the Devereaux home?

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

9. Who does Hank meet at the local bowling alley for lunch? What do they talk about?

10. When Hank finally gets home, what is his daughter doing? What message does he find on his answering machine?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The setting refers to the time and the place where a story takes place. Compare and contrast the settings of "Straight Man" regarding time. How does it compare to the childhood he describes in the Epilogue to Book One? Cite at least three examples from the book where Russo discusses how the setting, in reference to time, has changed.

Essay Topic 2

What role does the Devereaux family play in the novel "Straight Man"? Are they as important to the narrative as the author and the environment he is in? Give four examples where the four different members of the family are central to the story-telling. Give four examples where the narrative is focused only on Hank and the environment he works in.

Essay Topic 3

How does Hank relate the anecdote about his childhood dog so that it blends the adult Hank and the young Hank? If "the child is the father of the man", what was it about Hank's childhood that contributed to how the adult Hank views the world?

(see the answer keys)

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