View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the setting of Chapter 8?

2. What season of Shooting Stars appears at the end of Chapter 11?

3. What magazine does Cal say Leon's family was on the cover of in Chapter 9?

4. Where is the Holiday Inn that Cal jokes about reviewing on his video update in Chapter 5?

5. How do Leon and Cal get home after leaving the NASA building in Chapter 12?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Cal meet Deb in Chapter 1? Why is this setting noteworthy?

2. Describe Cal's dad. What has his career been like until the opening of the novel? How does it change?

3. How does Cal describe the way he is perceived by others in the opening of the novel?

4. How does the theme of selfishness play out through the character of Cal's father?

5. Who is Jeremy and what role does he play in the novel?

6. How is the show Shooting Stars presented in the novel? What purpose do these excerpts serve?

7. What is StarWatch, and how would you compare it to contemporary media?

8. Why would Cal's career ambitions be threatened if his father were accepted at NASA?

9. Where do Cal and Leon kiss for the first time? What happens after they kiss?

10. How does Cal describe his family life early in the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the importance of setting in The Gravity of Us. Where does Cal live in the beginning of the novel? Where does he move? How are these settings compared? Why is setting important to the plot of this novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's allusions to mythology in The Gravity of Us. What are some examples of Greek mythology that appear in the text? What do they reference, and how do these allusions relate to the plot and themes of the novel? How do they relate to the novel's characters?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the family relationships in The Gravity of Us. How does Cal perceive his parents and their relationship in the beginning of the novel? How do those perceptions change? How does Leon feel about his family?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 887 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample