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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 italicized section of Chapter 4, why does the kid say that the girls needs to keep up her strength?

2. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 3, who does Janice say that Bobby should ask out on a date?

3. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 1, what is the model name of the downed plane?

4. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 4, what do Bobby and his sister do all day on her eighteenth birthday?

5. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 4, where in the basement does Bobby find what he is looking for?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 2, why does Bobby rent a boat and sail around the little cluster of islands off the coast of Mississippi?

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

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

4. What is Oiler going to do on his dive job in Venezuela?

5. After talking to Oiler about Vietnam, what do the guys in suits want to know from Bobby about the downed plane?

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

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

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

9. How does the Kid talk? What is the reader's impression of the Kid from the ways he talks and the language that he uses.

10. Where does Bobby move in after taking all his belongings out of his apartment?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Alicia talks about the deep heart of number and the separation between the source of a mathematical conjecture's creation and the value of a mathematical conjecture once it is written down. She says that if left unwritten, a mathematical conjecture may provide some insight into the deep core of reality. What is the paradox of something separate from reality being able to explain reality? How is that connected to conscious and the subconscious? Between Alicia who tries to make sense and the Kid who tries to make unsense?

Essay Topic 2

What do you think of Kline as a character? How is Kline a foil for John Sheddan? What aspect of the author does Kline represent?

Essay Topic 3

What is your experience of Alicia's conversation with Miss Vivian about the crying babies? What are the different reasons that Alicia and Miss Vivian give for why the babies are crying? Do any of these reasons seem plausible? What do babies represent for humans? What does it mean for babies, who are so vulnerable and innocent to be beset by dangers or be filled with some deep dislike for their surroundings? What do you think the point is of this conversation? Does it have a point? How does it make you feel as a reader?

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