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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. Who visits Taft in the middle of the night in Chapter 10?

2. What is Ruth doing when John wakes up at the beginning of Chapter 7?

3. What is Carl's excuse for the cocaine in Chapter 9?

4. What is Carl doing when John asks him to help with the deck in Chapter 12?

5. In Chapter 12, where does Fay say she thinks she can get a job?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Marion's friend, the doctor, help John in Chapter 11?

2. What difficulty do John and Fay face in bailing Carl out in Chapter?

3. Describe John and Fay's interaction in Chapter 7.

4. How do Carl and John bond in Chapter 7?

5. How does John anger Ruth at the beginning of Chapter 7?

6. Why is Taft shaken by the site of Carl's accident in Chapter 10?

7. Why is John deeply gladdened by his morning with Marion and Franklin in Chapter 11?

8. What does Wallace tell John about Carl in Chapter 8?

9. What does Mrs. Woodmore request of John in Chapter 12?

10. Where does John go to recuperate in Chapter 12?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about Patchett's portrayal of the modern Deep South in the novel. What is left of the specter of Jim Crow in the South? How do the remnants of segregation and racism manifest themselves in the narrative? Discuss how this nascent bigotry affects the character of John Nickel. Why does it make him more reticent to connect with Fay Taft? Is the city really as racist as he believes?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about Levon Taft, and how he is largely a creation of John Nickel's imagination. Why would John Nickel become fixated on Taft? How does he become aware of Taft's existence and death? Discuss the origin of the information in the Taft narrative: his first name, his car, and his various jobs. When would John have heard about these details? Discuss how the final chapter involves John's complete immersion in a Taft construction.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the tenuous relationship between John and Marion in the novel. How did they discover each other, and what was the root of their infatuation? Discuss how the birth of Franklin forever changes the nature of this relationship? Throughout the plot of the novel, what do Marion and John want from each other and what obstacles prevent their relationship from flourishing or forever fading away?

(see the answer keys)

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