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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 had the Schwa's mother gone to get when she disappeared and never returned?

2. Antsy remembers the Schwa when what falls on the floor from his mother's recipe cards?

3. Who yells that an express train is coming?

4. When Antsy tells Old Man Crawley about the Schwa problem, Old Man Crawley's advice is to ______________.

5. What words are on the billboard that the Schwa shows Antsy in Chapter 18?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Antsy believe Crawley wants him to stay with him?

2. Where is Old Man Crawley taken in Chapter 17?

3. What do Antsy and Lexie set to find out in Chapter 15?

4. In what ways does the Schwa appear to fade from Antsy's life in Chapter 15?

5. What advice does Old Man Crawley give for the Schwa?

6. What does Antsy discover upon returning home in Chapter 20?

7. How are Crawley's fears relative to the Schwa?

8. What is the significance of "Radiation Therapy" in the title of Chapter 19?

9. What does Lexie demand at the restaurant in Chapter 12? What organization does she tell Antsy about?

10. What does Antsy's father announce at a family meeting in Chapter 13?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss and analyze the theme of abandonment in the novel. What has been the impact of the Schwa's mother's abandonment on the Schwa? How has it affected the Schwa's father? How does childhood abandonment affect a person psychologically?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Antsy and the Schwa in the narrative. In what ways does Antsy feel similar to the Schwa? What characteristics define and separate him from the Schwa? How are these similarities and differences represented symbolically in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the relationship between Lexie's blindness and the Schwa's invisibility. In what ways does Lexie treat the Schwa differently than the other characters? Why? What does Lexie represent symbolically to the Schwa? What does she represent to Antsy?

(see the answer keys)

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