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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. Why does Ernie decide he must leave the city of Marseilles?

2. How does Mordecai view Jewish suffering?

3. What was the "Final Solution"?

4. What did the signs directing the prisoners to the baths say?

5. What kind of dogs do the SS officers bring with them to help manage the people in the boxcars?

Short Essay Questions

1. What change does touching Melanie make in Ernie?

2. Why does Ernie decide he does not want to join the movements that are fighting back against the Nazis?

3. What causes Mordecai to take up a weapon against the Nazi perpetrators?

4. Why does Mordecai say it would be useless to leave Germany?

5. Why does Ernie compare himself to a cat?

6. What does Ernie do to turn himself into a dog?

7. Why does Madame Trochu, the farmer's wife, distrust Ernie?

8. In Ernie's dream, what mistake does Judith make as she talks about the wedding?

9. What causes the Levy family the first tinge of fear that life in France will be the equivalent of their lives in Germany?

10. Why do the children scream when the boxcar stops?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author puts himself into the story more than once. In your essay, find the moments in which the author shares his own feelings with the reader, and evaluate this device. Does he belong in the story? Why or why not? Is he sharing his feelings because they are similar to yours? What ultimately gives him relief from the grief he experiences as he composes this story?

Essay Topic 2

A great deal of this story revolves around Ernie's development as a child. In your essay, tell which of Ernie's recorded childhood events changed the man he was to become, and why you think so.

Essay Topic 3

The author spends a large part of the book establishing a genealogy for Ernie that places him as the last of the Just Men. In your essay, select some of Ernie's ancestors and explain how the characteristics they demonstrated in their lifetimes are apparent in his actions.

(see the answer keys)

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