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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. How long did Frank's longest affair take place?

2. What does Maddy's father give her for her 18th birthday in Section 2?

3. What does Anderson tell Maddy in the car in Section 1?

4. What is one of the only things Maddy has of her mother's?

5. What does Maddy tell her father when she finds him sitting on her bed when she sneaks back into her room in Section 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the nickname that Maddy gives Arthur and how does he get it?

2. What happens the first time Maddy goes to Arthur's house in Section 1?

3. What is happening "more and more often" (4) to Arthur in Section 1?

4. How does Lucille's new relationship with Frank, in Section 2, change her?

5. How does Arthur describe the girl he often sees at the graveyard, in Section 1?

6. What do Lucille and Arthur talk about in Section 2?

7. Who is Anderson and what is the first impression the reader gets of him in Section One?

8. What does Arthur learn about Heidi Mueller when he passes her grave?

9. What does Arthur dream about in Section 2?

10. How does Anderson respond to Maddy's pregnancy when she tells him, in Section 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Section 5, Arthur remembers how he and Nola used to go square dancing. How does he use square dancing as a metaphor for life?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze Maddy's trauma in the novel. What does she go through and how does this shape her as a person?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the roles of fathers in the text. Analyze each of the fathers and father figures in the novel, Anderson, Steve Harris, and Arthur.

(see the answer keys)

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