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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. Marcus and his friends come in and start a fight with who over a secret they all share from the previous spring in Chapter 5?

2. Marcus and his friends steal all of whose food in Chapter 8?

3. What does Steve do as he waits for his ex-wife to arrive in Chapter 2?

4. What sports game does Ronnie watch while at the beach in Chapter 3?

5. What does Ronnie accuse Will of not doing when she confronts him in Chapter 13?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the relationship between Will and Ronnie progress in Chapter 13? Where does he take her on their day together?

2. What foreshadowing is revealed in the Prologue? How is the end of the novel set up from this first opening?

3. What happens at the party Ronnie attends in Chapter 10? What worries her about the events?

4. Where is Ronnie going to stay with her father in Chapter 1? How is Ronnie's relationship with her father described?

5. Where does Ronnie wake up in Chapter 12? Who approaches her?

6. What does Steve contemplate as he waits for Ronnie in Chapter 9?

7. What confrontation does Ronnie have with Will in Chapter 13? What is Will's response?

8. What main characters are established in the Prologue? What is the protagonist preparing to do?

9. What does Steve do as he awaits the arrival of his children in Chapter 2? How does he feel about seeing them?

10. What attracts Ronnie to Blaze in the novel? What does this reveal about Ronnie's character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and analyze the characters of Steve and Jonah in the novel. How old is Jonah? What is his reaction upon seeing his father? How old were Jonah and Ronnie when their father abandoned the family? How did the abandonment affect Ronnie and Jonah differently and why?

Essay Topic 2

Define and identify irony in the novel. Why is it ironic that Ronnie and Will come to Blaze's rescue in Chapter 28? What are the different forms of irony in literature? How are each implemented in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the plot structure of the novel, identifying and discussing the exposition, rising action, climax and denouement. Where does the novel return to in Chapter 37? What is the effect of this return to the beginning on the reader? What peace does Steve make before dying?

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