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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 was one reason the university was happy to hire Devereaux Sr.?

2. Who calls Hank right after the head of campus security calls?

3. What is Hank doing when he wets his pants?

4. What did Hank's father realize as he listened to his lecture being delivered by someone else?

5. In the Epilogue, Hank is on leave. What is this called for a professor?

Short Essay Questions

1. After going to his own office and speaking to his secretary, Hank heads to the Dean's (Jacob Rose) office. What does Hank do there and what kind of response does he get?

2. The morning after Hank and Tony end up in the same place, what does Hank find when he heads home? What does he do instead? What does he find out?

3. What happens after Tony and Hank leave the restaurant? Where do they both end up?

4. Russell goes along to the party for Tony, and tries to get Tony's computer to work, without success. While this is going on, a large group of the professors get stuck in the room, and cannot seem to be able to figure out how to get out. What is Hank's observation on this?

5. After Hank's calls from Lou and Teddy, Hank heads to campus but stops at the diner first. Who does he meet there and what does this individual tell Hank?

6. What happens while Hank is up in the office building ceiling?

7. After Hank leaves his doctor's office, what are the series of events that ensue that involve his mother?

8. Hank goes back to his office after seeing his mother on the street. What happens to him there and what does he immediately do?

9. What is Lily doing now? What project had Jacob Rose submitted that Lily and Hank got a grant for?

10. When Hank finally goes to see his father in his new house in Railton, what is Hank's reaction? How does he react to what his father says about the writer Charles Dickens?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tone refers to the attitude of the narrator of a work. As the narrator of "Straight Man", what is the author's tone at different stages of the book? Explain the tone, with examples:

1) In the Prologue of Book One.

2) When he grabs Finny the Goose by the neck and holds him up for the television camera.

3) When he catches his son-in-law with Meg Quigley.

4) In the Epilogue.

Essay Topic 2

How are Hank's father and mother characterized in the Prologue? As the novel progresses, how does their relationship with Hank follow the same patterns as it did when he was a child?

Essay Topic 3

Hank seems to suppress anger during most the novel, but at times his anger and frustration do surface. Cite three examples of Hank's anger, and what transpires as a result.

(see the answer keys)

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