View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 7, where does Quinn go to find Stillman?

2. What does Peter Stillman have in common with Quinn's son?

3. What item does Stillman carry with him on his daily walks?

4. Where is Quinn the second time the telephone rings?

5. In Chapter 2, who greets Quinn at the apartment door?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Stillman go after leaving Grand Central Station? Why is Quinn surprised by this?

2. What is the first thing that Quinn writes in the red notebook? Why is this significant?

3. Describe the relationship between Quinn and the counterman at the luncheonette. What interest unites them?

4. In Chapter 13, where does Quinn go? What does he do there?

5. What does Quinn believe is the key to effective detective work? Does his theory prove to be correct? Why or why not?

6. According to Stillman's book, where should the new paradise be built? When should this building occur and why then?

7. What is the message spelled out by the letters of the maps in Chapter 8? What does this message reveal to Quinn about Stillman?

8. While Quinn is living in the alleyway in Chapter 12, what is his sleep schedule like? How is he able to measure the amount of time he has been sleeping?

9. What is revealed about Quinn's family in Chapter 1 of City of Glass? Where is his family now?

10. Describe Stillman's daily routine. What items does he take with him on his daily walks?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of The Locked Room, the writer reads Fanshawe's red notebook and remarks, "All the words were familiar to me, and yet they seemed to have been put together strangely, as though their final purpose was to cancel each other out. I can think of no other way to express it. Each sentence erased the sentence before it, each paragraph made the next paragraph impossible." What theme from the story is exemplified in this quote? Give three examples of this theme throughout The New York Trilogy.

Essay Topic 2

The New York Trilogy is in part a work of meta-fiction. How so? What does having a character named Paul Auster signify? What does the relationship between Paul Auster and the narrator of City of Glass imply about Auster's attitude towards writing?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the time of narration and the time of action in Ghosts and The Locked Room. How is the narration different? Which of the narrators is further removed from the action? What effect does this have on the stories?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 815 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample