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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. As a child, Howie loved_____.

2. Howie thinks ______ signals to the world that he has a rich, busy life.

3. Who does Howie have fantasies about in Chapter 1?

4. What is Howie eating the first time he used a straw?

5. What did Howie's father hang on the doorknobs of their home?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Howie consider to be his sixth major advancement in life?

2. What is the treat that Howie gives himself after making a resolution to not get carried away by nostalgia?

3. What compelling realization does Howie remember when driving behind a garbage truck when he is thirty?

4. How does Howie describe the experience of opening a package of shirts from the dry cleaners?

5. What does Howie notice about his shoes as he reties them in Chapter 4?

6. What is Howie's focus in Chapter 3?

7. What does Howie believe to be the four reasons why it is good for brain cells to die?

8. What does Howie mean by "the rule of nostalgia"?

9. What is the theory that Howie calls the "walking-flexion" model?

10. How does Howie celebrate what he considers to be the realization that he is an adult?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the literary impressionism used in the novel and the overall effect it creates.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the purpose of the character L. Why does she never actually physically appears in the narrative? How does she help create the roundness of Howie's character?

Essay Topic 3

Do you agree with Howie's premise that conceiving of the important can be accomplished by means of conceiving of the trivial. Is there a deeper profundity to his trivial thoughts?

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