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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 does Henry give his dog when he is packing his truck?

2. Why is Henry punished with nightly drills?

3. Who is Elaine?

4. What state is the building in that Henry and Myra arrive at?

5. Who does Henry wake up with after the party?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Henry's parents say about him?

2. How does Henry fall in love with the West?

3. What does Henry do after Elaine leaves?

4. What does Henry learn from his military experience?

5. What does Van Hoss tell Henry about Bildad?

6. What does Henry think about cooking, and Elaine's cooking in particular?

7. What happens when Henry calls in to work?

8. Describe Henry's relationships at the beginning of the novel.

9. Describe Henry's relationship with his brother Will.

10. Describe Henry's dinner with Van Hoss.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What purpose does Henry's secret have in the novel? What is the secret, and how does our ignorance of the secret (as well as our speculation, as Henry recounts his life stories) affect our reading experience? What do we expect the secret to be?

Essay Topic 2

What does drinking represent in 'Fool's Progress'? What ideas or feelings is it associated with? What is Henry doing by drinking? Celebrating something, hiding something, avoiding something? What is it, and how does Abbey describe it?

Essay Topic 3

What is Henry's relationship with his family? In what ways is he a misfit? In what ways is he one of them?

(see the answer keys)

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