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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 does Smith believe counts in life?

2. What does the narrator receive five shillings to buy?

3. What does Mr. Raynor say is his friend?

4. What does Smith say the governor is as dead as?

5. Who does Harry's wife run off with?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Bullivant react to Raynor beating him?

2. How does Mr. Raynor reward Robinson?

3. What is the girls' family life like?

4. How does the writer decribe Ernest's appearance?

5. What point does Smith make about honesty?

6. What regrets does Mr. Raynor express at the end of the story?

7. What does Harry think about Kathy's death?

8. How does the governor make Smith's life a misery for the rest of the time he is at Borstal?

9. Describe the meeting between Harry and Kathy ten years later.

10. Why do Mr. Raynor's pupils no longer bother to sneer at him for his well-known habit of staring at the drapery girls?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do so many of the characters in the book have a problem with authority figures? In what way do their problems with authority figures hold them back?

Essay Topic 2

What is life like in Borstal for Smith? How does Borstal try to change Smith and why do they fail? How has youth prison changed since the story was written?

Essay Topic 3

Pick a character from the book and discuss his or her goals and motives. Do they achieve their motive? Do they share similar goals and motives with other characters? Do their goals clash with other characters? How do the characters goals and motives affect their interaction with each other?

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