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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 game does Solo play when he gets angry?

2. What is NOT one of the treatments being used to help Riley improve their mental health?

3. What was Solo's nickname prior to his current one?

4. What class does Riley have second period?

5. After what event does Riley say they feel good for the first time since starting at Park Hills High School?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Riley feel their parents are close to asking them to again start attending political events with the family?

2. What does Riley do when overcome by self-pity while eating alone on the ramp?

3. What does Riley call their one formal outfit and why?

4. What is the significance of Riley's request to study with Bec rather than attending the political fundraiser?

5. How does the author demonstrate to the reader in Chapter One that Riley and his father Congressman Sean Cavanaugh are on different wavelengths throughout much of the narrative?

6. What clothing does Riley choose for the first day of public high school, and what is Riley hoping to accomplish with this choice?

7. What is symbolic about Riley's fleeting feeling of wanting to carve a word into the AP English desk?

8. What does Doctor Ann say about the act of "wondering if it's okay to be who you are" (110) and how do her comments relate to the novel's title?

9. Discuss the author's use of hyperbole to characterize Riley's voice.

10. What is the significance of Riley's choice of an air raid siren as a waking alarm?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the significance of the novel's ending and its connection to featured themes across the text.

Essay Topic 2

How is the topic of individualism treated within the novel and how does its treatment relate to the book's repeated allusions to punk rock music?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the author's choice to withhold from the reader the biological gender of the protagonist within the novel Symptoms of Being Human.

(see the answer keys)

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