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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 does the father say when he and his son enter the hidden cellar?

2. What does the son think is inside the nice house?

3. The father and son comb the beach -- what do they find?

4. As the father leads the son to the hidden cellar, what does the father tell his son that good guys do not give in to?

5. In Chapter 36, the father and son come to a nice house -- why does the father worry about going inside?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why the father gives the son a gun after they see the people walking towards the house.

2. Describe how the son shows his increasing influence on the father in Chapter 31.

3. Explain what happens in Chapter 35 that finally makes the father realize that the son is growing up.

4. Describe how the father treats the old man that he and the son meet in Chapter 31.

5. Describe three things that the father and son find of use in Chapters 36-40.

6. Describe how the father makes lamps before he and the son enter the hidden cellar.

7. Give an example from Chapters 21-25 that describes the son's naivety.

8. Explain what happens when the father and son find the old abandoned train -- analyze the father's actions.

9. Describe how the author generates credibility to the father's paranoia about the world.

10. Describe three things that the father finds in Chapters 21-25 that he finds useful.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the theme of hope throughout the novel: hope for a better world, hope that there are still good people out there. Give some examples from the text that demonstrate the father and son's hope. How is the story ended with a hint of hope? How can hope for a better tomorrow encourage someone through a hard time?

Essay Topic 2

The father insists that there are good and bad guys in the world, leading the reader to believe a "bad" group of people are responsible for the destruction. How are good people set apart from bad people in the story? What are the major characteristics that good people have that bad people don't? How does the father distinguish between the good and bad people?

Essay Topic 3

Explore the use of foreshadowing in the novel and analyze how it affects the story. How has this technique affected the plot of the story? Cite examples from the text to support your argument.

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