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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. How is Franklin hurt at the end of Chapter 1?

2. Why is John angry at the beginning of Chapter 6?

3. In Chapter 5, Ruth has just moved back to Memphis from where?

4. Why does John give up admonishing Eddie's father in Chapter 2?

5. What does John fixate on at the beginning of Chapter 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. What role does Carl play at Muddy's as time does on?

2. How is Levon Taft's life described in Chapter 5?

3. Why do Taft's in-laws get annoyed at Carl in Chapter 6?

4. In what state is Carl when John and Fay find him in Chapter 3?

5. Describe John and Fay's first kiss.

6. How do John and Fay meet in Chapter 1?

7. Describe the interchange between Carl and John in Chapter 4?

8. What call does John Nickel make at work in Chapter 2?

9. How does John feel about Fay's neighborhood in Chapter 3?

10. Why did John return to Marion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narratives of "Taft" take place in two towns: Memphis and Coalfield. In an essay, compare the way that these two towns are portrayed in the novel. What abstract ideas and movements are represented by the towns? How does Patchett forge a tone in the novel for each of these settings? Discuss the characters that come from each town. How are their objectives and values similar and different? Do they come into conflict?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the novel, many of Carl Taft's true objectives remain unknown to John Nickel and the reader. Write an essay discussing how these objectives are obscured and finally revealed. What drives Carl after his arrival in Memphis, and why is he treated as a lovable screw-up? How does this notion of his harmlessness prove to be incorrect? Discuss how Patchett reveals the fallacy of this notion, and what changes in the world of the novel after it is revealed.

Essay Topic 3

"Taft" is a story of two fathers: Levon Taft and John Nickel. Compare these two protagonists in an essay. What flaws does each father have? How does the author make clear to the reader that both Taft and John are, at heart, good men? Which struggles do the men share, and what problems are unique to each? Discuss the way each man's arc is a commentary on the other.

(see the answer keys)

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