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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 is the name of the publishing house of the book Howie reads on his lunch break?

2. What does Howie do with the last ten minutes of his lunch break?

3. What does Howie consider to be unprofessional behavior in the men's bathroom?

4. What product in the CVS does Howie consider to reflect different social cultures?

5. What does Howie discuss in his last footnote in Chapter 13?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Howie consider to be the quintessential question about lunch hours?

2. In what way does Howie consider life to be like footnotes?

3. What observations does Howie make about vending machines?

4. What does Howie consider to be the dishonesty of the World Dryer Corporation?

5. What observations does Howie make about his Revere saucepan?

6. What does Howie note about eating and drinking at the same time?

7. What realization about his broken shoelace does Howie come to while washing his face in the men's bathroom?

8. What attracted Howie to the Aurelius book?

9. How can Howie reach a majority of adult thoughts?

10. What do Howie's observations about shampoos lead him to consider?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What profound insight does Howie achieve through his stream of consciousness while riding the subway? Could he have had this same insight without the constant stream of trivial thoughts? Is his realization truly profound, transcending the triviality of his mundane thoughts?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of the innate philosopher in everyone and how it resonates throughout the book.

Essay Topic 3

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?

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