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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 put to bed?

2. For what instrument did Antes write?

3. Who runs Lionel Hampton’s band?

4. What had been the occupation of Miggy’s husband?

5. How does the novel gloss the term “johnnies”?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Fatty absent himself from Chona’s funeral?

2. What injuries did Dodo sustain in being apprehended?

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

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

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

6. Why does Gus dislike Doc?

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

8. How does Moshe pack the pants he returns to Malachi?

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

Assuming that The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store should be standard reading for a given class and level, what class and what level? Why that class and why that level? What in the text suggests as much, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

The novel muses at some length about the nature of America. What, ultimately, is its vision of what it means to be an American? How does it present that vision?

Essay Topic 3

Sources attest to the presence of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store on best-seller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the novel? How does it do so?

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This section contains 519 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample