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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. According to the ad, what is the salary for the job for which Fainy interviews?

2. What does Janey's mother fail to understand about her daughter?

3. Where does Fainy take the boxes?

4. In what section of Washington, D.C. did Janey grow up?

5. When Ike finds out that he has a venereal disease, what does a bum tell him to take for a cure?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mac learn independence?

2. What does Ike teach Mac?

3. Why does Johnny have to leave college?

4. Describe Janey.

5. What could Maisie have done to keep Mac in Los Angeles with her?

6. What kind of personality does Janey have?

7. What effect did Uncle Tim have on Mac?

8. What decision does Mac make regarding Maisie and her pregnancy?

9. What happens on the train ride to Chicago that Mac takes?

10. After meeting Ben Evans, what does Mac decide?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

John Dos Passos offers a compelling narrative told in an unorthodox and experimental fashion using "Newsreels" with blaring headlines, autobiographical "Camera Eye" sections with poetic stream-of-consciousness, and "biographies" evoking emblematic historical figures like J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, John Reed, Frank Lloyd Wright, Thorstein Veblen, and the Unknown Soldier. Do you find this style interesting to read? Are you able to follow the story line easily, or are these changes erratic and confusing for you as a reader? Does John dos Passos offer powerful storytelling that holds your attention? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Explain the concept of loneliness as it is exhibited in the 42nd Parallel. Which of the characters are lonely? Are they all lonely in some way? Explain the loneliness and the methods and attempts to overcome it.

Essay Topic 3

The 42nd Parallel is written from the third-person point of view where the narrator is an outsider who can report only what he or she sees and hears. This narrator can tell us what is happening, but he cannot tell us the thoughts of the characters. This method allows the author to establish the setting and to supply background information to the reader about people, places, and events. Is this method effective? Why or why not? Would a first-person narrative be more or less appealing? Describe.

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This section contains 852 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample