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 the morning after finding the city, why does the father step away from the son before he wakes?

2. Where are the father and son sleeping at the beginning of Chapter 1?

3. What does the father use to make wrappings for himself and his son's feet?

4. After leaving the city, what direction do the father and son head?

5. What do the father and the son find in a smokehouse?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why it is difficult for the reader to truly assess how bad things are in the world.

2. Recall from Chapter 5 what the father remembers his wife telling him about his son.

3. Recall an example from the first few chapters of the novel that demonstrates the son's concern with mortality.

4. Explain how the father is failing his son.

5. Give an example from Chapter 11 where the father demonstrates his love for his son.

6. Recall what question the son asks the father repeatedly and relate it to the father's coughing fits.

7. Describe what happens when the father and son arrive at the father's old house.

8. Describe the father's belief in God.

9. Describe how food is constantly a struggle, comparing how the father and son manage their food.

10. Explain what the father does in Chapters 11-15 that accentuates his paranoia, citing an example.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the theme of fear, particularly the father's fear of the boy growing up. Cite examples from the text that demonstrate the father's fears. Why is the father so fearful of the son growing up?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Analyze the theme of extinction or "the end of the world." How has near extinction caused humans to act in The Road? Would people really react this way? What are signs that the earth has been mistreated? Are there any signs that the earth is healing itself?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 949 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample