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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. What do the father and son do when they reach the city?

2. After looking for things to enhance their cart, what do the father and son do?

3. In Chapter 11, how would the father and son describe the dinner that they prepared?

4. After leaving the first location visited in Chapter 1, the father and son reach a city -- why does the father presume there is no life there?

5. Along the road, the father and son spy a group of people climbing out of a truck -- what are the people wearing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why the father is so overprotective of the son.

2. Explain how the father demonstrates perseverance in Chapters 16 through 20.

3. Describe how the father restricts the son from his humanitarian instincts.

4. Explain what the father says about the States road.

5. Describe what the father makes for their feet in Chapter 20.

6. Explain how the author's descriptions and use of language set the tone for the rest of the novel.

7. Analyze the son's dream about the toy penguin.

8. Give an example of a game that the father and son play together.

9. Give an example that demonstrates the father's stubbornness and how he has somewhat lost touch with reality.

10. Describe the father's belief in God.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

From the very beginning of The Road, the author does not give the father and son names, he gives them the generic labels of "the man or father" and "the boy or son."

Part 1) Why did the author choose not to give his characters names?

Part 2) How do the characters' basic names of "the man" and "the boy" affect the way the reader relates to them?

Part 3) How would the reader view the text if the characters had been given names?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the concept of trust and mistrust in the The Road, also explaining how it affects the son. The father's mistrust of others does keep them safe; however, does it also hold them back? Has the father's mistrust of others made the son naïve about their current situation? How has the father's mistrust of others made the son unhappy?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the theme of reliance in The Road.

Part 1) What does reliance mean? What are some examples of reliance from the book?

Part 2) What does the father rely on the son for?

Part 3) Discuss how reliance can be a good and bad thing.

(see the answer keys)

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