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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 old was John Caldwell in 1978?

2. What was the name of the girl who worked for Albert before he fired her?

3. How long had Albert lived at the Apelles?

4. When did John play a baseball game in Central Park that Albert described to Erwin?

5. What was the name of Albert's wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who did John and Erwin see in the lobby of the hospital when they arrived?

2. At the end of Part 3, Chapter 23, why did John try to hide in the hospital lobby?

3. What does Hazel like to pretend about her husband at the end of Part 3, Chapter 25?

4. How did John feel about accepting anything from his father?

5. How did Albert propose to help Erwin?

6. How was the snow described in Part 3, Chapter 16?

7. Where did John Caldwell work in 1978, and what job did he really want?

8. How had Albert relied on logic throughout his life?

9. What did John Caldwell do when Vik followed him after he left the YMCA?

10. Where did Erica accompany Albert when she worked for him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Albert is 74 in most of the novel. How does old age affect Albert? Why does he think he is “lord of a crumbling manor” (181) because of old age?

Essay Topic 2

The setting in a book is the place or places where the action takes place. Where does the story take place? Is the setting simply a backdrop to the story and characters or does it take on the role of a character?

Essay Topic 3

What a reader knows about events and characters is determined by the point of view in a book. What is the point of view in the book? Why does it sometimes seem to be written from a third-person point of view? How does the point of view influence what readers know about events and people?

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