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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 is Rocky's real job?

2. Where do Ruth and Andrew apply for a new house?

3. What does Ruth say about Suffolk?

4. What does the preacher of the New Brown Memorial call Ruth?

5. What celebrates its 40th anniversary in 1994?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rocky try to take advantage of Ruth?

2. What does Aubrey Rubenstein tell James in Chapter 22?

3. Why do Ruth's parents refuse to get a divorce?

4. What problems does James say he had as a child of mixed race?

5. Describe Halina's time in an underground prison.

6. How is Ruth's life getting better at the age of sixty five?

7. What does James later learn about his mother's driving skills?

8. What problems do Ruth and Andrew have getting married?

9. Why is James anxious to move to Delaware?

10. How does James feel about his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main themes of the story. Why do you think these themes are so important to the story? How does McBride use character and setting to express his themes?

Essay Topic 2

Pick a character from the novel and discuss his goals and motives. Does he achieve his motive? Why? Does he share similar goals and motives with other characters? Do his goals clash with other characters? How do the characters' goals and motives affect their interaction with each other?

Essay Topic 3

What events in James' early life influenced him to become a musician? How different do the students think James' life would have been if she had not grown up in poverty?

(see the answer keys)

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