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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 the name of Moshe’s local skating rink?

2. Who runs Lionel Hampton’s band?

3. What instrument does Miggy Fludd use for her truthsaying?

4. What kind of car does Fatty drive?

5. For how many years had Nate been in Pottstown?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why are members of a Jewish group in the novel called meat slabs?

2. Why did Moshe book the Afro-Cubans at his theatre?

3. For what is the site of the local Memorial Day festivities usually used?

4. What ideas does Fatty consider and reject for getting Nate out of his establishment?

5. Why does Doc dislike Gus?

6. What is the dominant occupation of the women of Hemlock Row?

7. How does Pia gather gossip to pass along to her friends?

8. What is the tension surrounding the Afro-Cubans, and how is it resolved?

9. How does Fatty typify the Lowgods?

10. What injuries did Dodo sustain in being apprehended?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what genre other than historical fiction might The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

To what other writer’s work in your experience does McBride’s seem most similar? What makes the writers similar? What differentiates them? Overall, which do you regard as doing better at the craft of writing, and why?

Essay Topic 3

What character is the protagonist of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store? How does the novel support such an assertion?

(see the answer keys)

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