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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. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 4, who do all the smart people think was the smartest man that god ever made?

2. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 2, what is the name of Bobby's lunch date's sister?

3. In the italicized section of Chapter 4, what does Mr. Bones suspect that the girl is suffering a bout of?

4. In the italicized section of Chapter 1, what mathematical term does the Kid accuse the girl of calling him?

5. In the italicized section of Chapter 1, what is the other thing that the Kid accuses the girl of calling him that sh confirms that he is?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Oiler say that he regrets the most about his time in Vietnam?

2. What does Bobby find in his paternal grandmother's basement after her funeral?

3. Why is the Kid called the Thalidomide Kid?

4. Of the Kid's cohorts, who is the only one that the girl cares about? Why does the kid not summon her for the girl?

5. Before the girl ends her life in the Wisconsin woods, who comes to see her a final time in her room in Chicago?

6. What are Bobby and Oiler doing off the coast of Mississippi as the non-italicized section of Chapter 1 opens?

7. What does Bobby do with what he finds in his grandmother's basement?

8. At the beginning of Chapter 4, what appears in the night at the girl's window that makes her whisper Bobby's name?

9. Does Bobby find anything on his search of the cluster of islands?

10. In Chapter 2, What does the Kid present to the girl?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In what ways is this book a story about God? How is God related to the idea of duality? Or Conscious and subconscious? Is the dark side of the unconscious also God? or is God only about the light? Are heaven and Hell two halves of the same coin? What do you think the author is trying to suggest to the reader?

Essay Topic 2

There are guys in suits who question Bobby, and his bank account is frozen by the IRS. How do these elements serve the story? How do they serve the author's intentions for the story? How do they serve to suggest a life that is out of Bobby's control? How do they serve to show ideas of struggle and surrender? How do these ideas relate to the reader's world?

Essay Topic 3

Bobby has two more experiences of solitude. How are these experiences different that his experience on the jack-up rig? How do the language and cadence give the reader a feeling that the other two experiences of solitude have a different quality than the experience Bobby has aboard the jack-up rig?

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