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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the narrator's recollection about second grade, to whom does Fanshawe give the present intended for the birthday boy?
(a) His girlfriend.
(b) The narrator.
(c) Dennis Walden.
(d) His mother.

2. According to Jane Fanshawe, how did the narrator and Fanshawe compare physically as children?
(a) Fanshawe was much taller than the narrator.
(b) They looked very different.
(c) The narrator was much thinner than Fanshawe.
(d) They looked like brothers, almost twins.

3. What does the narrator begin to suspect that Fanshawe wants him to do?
(a) He suspects that Fanshawe wants him to kill him.
(b) He suspects that Fanshawe wants him to write his biography.
(c) He suspects that Fanshawe wants him to kill his mother.
(d) He suspects that Fanshawe wants him to divorce Sophie.

4. The images of which two historical figures are inspirational to Blue when he visits the churchyard?
(a) John Adams and Calvin Coolidge.
(b) Henry Ward Beecher and Abraham Lincoln.
(c) George Washington and Walt Whitman.
(d) Henry David Thoreau and George Washington Carver.

5. Where do Sophie and the narrator meet to discuss Fanshawe's work at the narrator's suggestion?
(a) A fashionable French restaurant.
(b) A fast food restaurant.
(c) Sophie Fanshawe's apartment.
(d) The narrator's apartment.

Short Answer Questions

1. What varsity sport did Fanshawe play for a brief period in his sophomore year before suddenly quitting the team?

2. What identity does Blue adopt for himself during his second conversation with Black?

3. Where is the apartment located that the narrator, Sophie and Ben move into after their marriage?

4. What is the word that the narrator uses to describe his attitude toward Fanshawe that is more accurate than envy?

5. In the story The Locked Room, when did the narrator meet Fanshawe?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which of Fanshawe's works does the narrator choose to show first to the editor? What is the editor's reaction to the work?

2. What does the narrator learn about Fanshawe through his interviews with Fanshawe's friends and family? What is he looking for that he does not find?

3. What is the person who comes to collect Blue's report at the Brooklyn Post Office wearing? What does Blue do when he sees this person?

4. When Black speaks to Blue about Walt Whitman, what two internal organs does he compare? What do these viscera have to do with the profession of writing?

5. What does Fanshawe do during his trip to the cemetery with the narrator on the day of his father's death? What does his action remind the narrator of from their early childhood?

6. When Blue enters Black's apartment disguised as the Fuller Brush man, what does Black tell Blue his profession is? When Blue later breaks into Black's apartment and steals the papers from his desk, what does he find them to contain?

7. What aspects of Fanshawe's background could be considered possible liabilities on the ship? How does his background affect the way in which he is actually treated by his fellow shipmates?

8. What initiates the argument between Sophie and the narrator at the end of Chapter 7? What is the status of their relationship when the narrator leaves for Paris?

9. In The Locked Room, what is Sophie Fanshawe's condition when her husband goes missing? Describe the trajectory of her emotional reaction to his disappearance.

10. Who told Blue stories about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge? What was this person's profession and what became of him?

(see the answer keys)

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