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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. Unlike adults children are able to understand and celebrate the concept of ____.

2. Where did the father meet the author?

3. What color was the sweater Mr. Buechner was wearing?

4. The clock on Buechner's wall was shaped like which of the following?

5. On what day of the week does this section begin?

Short Essay Questions

1. Examine the author's tale of the suppression of grief following his father's death. How does the family run away from the situation?

2. Discuss Freddy's stay in Bermuda. Why did the family have to leave?

3. How is the death of Freddy's father foreshadowed? How is it related to the rest of the author's life?

4. What situations have been faced by Grandma Buechner? What is the woman's personality?

5. Explain the nomadic behavior of the Buechner family when Freddy was a child.

6. What is Freddy's opinion of his father?

7. What does Freddy most admire about Grandma Buechner? How does Freddy view the relationship between mother and daughter-in-law?

8. Why does Buechner use Eden as a reference? How does it relate to the way people see the world? What is the main difference between the views of adults and children?

9. What was the purpose of writing a memoir at such a young age?

10. Describe Buechner's experience during the morning when he was attempting to ignore the sound of the carpenters working in the house.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the time the Buechners spent in Bermuda. Why did Mrs. Buechner take the family to Bermuda? Who went along? Where in Bermuda did the family stay? Was it intended to be a vacation or a permanent move? What were the opinions of the three grandparents? What was Kathy's reasoning for the trip? How did the family react to their new surroundings? How long did they stay? What prompted the move to North Carolina? What about the time in Bermuda stayed with Freddy? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Freddy finally found a style of writing that suited him. What was that style? What types of themes were tackled by Freddy? What was the title of his first book? What was the main theme? Was the book autobiographical? How did Freddy relate his life to the characters and events in the book? Explain. Using the information given in the book, write an outline or synopsis of Freddy's first work.

Essay Topic 3

Ever since the death of Freddy's father, the author has had a fear of suicide. Discuss the fear of suicide. Did Freddy have any concrete reason for the fear? Was it a childhood fear? Did the fear stay with Freddy throughout his life? How was it addressed? How did the family deal with the death? What about the experience made Freddy afraid that he was destined to follow in his father's footsteps? Also discuss the suicide of the uncle and how it affected Freddy and the rest of the family. Was Freddy correct in wondering if the propensity to commit suicide was hereditary?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,092 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample