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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. How old is Bix when he runs away?

2. Who is the first person to notice Jerome's behavior?

3. Where is it possible to play basketball both summer and winter?

4. Where does Jerome find directions to care for a baseball glove?

5. What does the counselor tell Jerome about his new class?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is one thing Jerome quickly learns at Chestnut school?

2. What does Jerome say about the white sports league versus the black one?

3. What does the driver of the grill truck say to Jerome?

4. What other things does Jerome write about this secret court?

5. What is hidden in a grove of trees and what sometimes watches Jerome there?

6. What does Jerome say about regaining his sense of privacy and how he is mistaken?

7. What does Jerome say about his French and Communications classes?

8. What does the school counselor suggest to help Jerome with his new responsibilities at home and what do the two finally agree for Jerome to do?

9. What is the traditional game that Jerome discusses?

10. Who does the narrator, Jerome, introduce and what does he say about where the young man is?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the following to discuss:

1. Choose two significant symbols and trace and analyze their appearance in The Moves Make the Man. Are these universal symbols? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other symbols that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Brooks chooses the symbols he does?

2. Choose two important metaphors and trace and analyze their appearance in the novel. Are these universal metaphors? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other metaphors that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Brooks chooses the metaphors she does?

3. Discuss Brooks's use (or lack ) of literary device (such as foreshadowing, clifthangers, deux ex machina, etc...), and how they add or detract from the story. Does Brooks use too many or too little literary techniques? State which of the five major elements of fiction the literary device is related to (style, character, plot, setting, theme).

Essay Topic 2

Characters are an integral and important part of almost all novels. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Jerome and Bix. How are they similar? How are they different? Is there a flaw in each of their personalities? Be specific and give examples.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of Jerome's mother and Bix's stepfather. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character?

3. Thoroughly analyze how three of the secondary characters in The Moves Make the Man help drive the plot and what their contribution is to the storyline. Are any of the secondary characters unnecessary? Indispensable? Which of the secondary characters are likable? Which are either unlikable or even despicable? Be specific and give examples.

Essay Topic 3

The book's concluding moments draw Jerome's journey of transformation, his coming of age, to a close. Over the course of The Moves Make the Man, Jerome grows as a person in both complexity and understanding. The Moves Make the Man might be considered a slice of Jerome's larger story of his "coming of age." It might be said that The Moves Make the Man is a "bildungsroman" of Jerome Foxworthy. Discuss the following:

1. Define Bildungsroman, or "Coming of Age," and give several examples from literature you have read.

2. Trace and analyze the character of Jerome as he changes from a more carefree, innocent boy to a wiser, young man. What are the significant events that change Jerome?

3. After thoroughly analyzing Jerome's growth throughout The Moves Make the Man, do you think The Moves Make the Man could be considered Jerome's Coming of Age story? Why or why not?

4. Are there any other characters in The Moves Make the Man who go through a Coming of Age experience? Who? Why do you think so?

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