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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 does the author describe the man in Chapter 5?

2. What type of interviews has Stecyk prepared in Chapter 14?

3. What does RECs stand for?

4. In Chapter 9, what does the author say about financial gain relating to this novel?

5. In Chapter 13, what does the character try to attribute his sweating to?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 5, how is the boy described?

2. Why does Wallace have to watch the interviews in Chapter 14?

3. In the beginning of this novel, how does Claude feel about his job?

4. How does Stecyk change from Chapter 12 to Chapter 14?

5. In Chapter 13, why does the main character pay attention to the way he sits?

6. How is Claude's psychic ability described in Chapter 15?

7. In Chapter 5, what has happened to the boy's mother?

8. In Chapter 16, what does Lane Dean Jr.'s character reveal about the work of the IRS?

9. How do the characters in Chapter 18 react to Desk Names?

10. In Chapter 10, how does the author explain the existence of the bureaucratic systems he describes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the role of women in this novel. While most of the IRS employees are men, there are a few women characters who play major roles in the novel. How do women influence the development of the major themes? How do the women interact with the IRS? What influence does this have? In what ways do women exist outside of, and independent of, the IRS?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the layering of people named David Foster Wallace in this novel. Explore the relationship between the three Davids in the novel: the author, the narrator and the character. What makes these people different? What makes them the same?

Essay Topic 3

How do characters remain the same as they age? How do they change? Compare and contrast the characters who change vs. those who remain the same. What message does this deliver about childhood and the transition into adulthood?

(see the answer keys)

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