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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. At what time are the inhabitants of the ward where Dodo is held roused for the day?

2. How many shifts of attendants are on the ward where Dodo is held?

3. What play runs at Moshe’s theatre while Chona is hospitalized?

4. How does the novel gloss the term “chevry”?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Dodo’s deafness help him communicate with Monkey Pants?

2. What leads Fatty to be wary of Nate’s anger?

3. Why does Gus dislike Doc?

4. Why does Monkey Pants’s marble inspire hope in Dodo?

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

6. Why does Doc dislike Gus?

7. What injuries did Dodo sustain in being apprehended?

8. Why does Dodo assume Chona, Nate, and Addie are angry with him?

9. What is the dominant occupation of the women of Chicken Hill?

10. How does Fatty typify the Lowgods?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Section divisions, their titles, and chapter numbering / division schema are all components of paratext. That is, they are not part of the text but are associated with it closely and affect its meaning. What significance, if any, accrues to the part- and chapter-titling scheme at work in The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store? If there is significance, how does that significance manifest? If there is not, what in the novel supports the paratextual divisions that are in place?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Consider the ending of the novel. Does it satisfy? How or how not?

(see the answer keys)

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