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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What were Darren’s friends doing while he puked into the grass at Clinton Lake?
(a) Leaving.
(b) Trying to soothe him.
(c) Chanting his name.
(d) Ignoring him.

2. What did Adam do after dinner that delighted the Phelpses?
(a) Ignored them.
(b) Cursed at them.
(c) Gave them the time.
(d) Conducted a polite conversation.

3. What did Fred Phelps’ family call Jane Gordon?
(a) The brain.
(b) The seductress.
(c) Medusa.
(d) The misanthrope.

4. How does the narrator characterize the state of American culture?
(a) Relentlessly cruel innovation.
(b) Lost boys without parents.
(c) Adolescence without end.
(d) Seven lost generations.

5. Why was a particular person central to including Darren?
(a) To atone for having hit him once.
(b) Out of progressive optimistic values.
(c) Because he enjoyed mocking him.
(d) Out of spite.

6. How did Adam’s friends exercise their aggression through language?
(a) Debates.
(b) Poetry contests.
(c) Opinion pieces.
(d) Rap battles.

7. How does Jane characterize Adam’s behavior over dinner with her and Jonathan and Amber?
(a) He was a saint.
(b) He was a clown.
(c) He was a know-it-all.
(d) He was a bully.

8. What does the narrator say the music and the skating suggested to Darren and his friends?
(a) Power.
(b) Inebriation.
(c) Sex.
(d) Sports.

9. What does Adam say it means to be a subject in a supermarket?
(a) To be immune to language.
(b) To be besieged by colors and manipulative designs.
(c) To be spread by objects.
(d) To be seduced by sounds and scents.

10. Where had Jonathan’s family lived before they went abroad?
(a) Maryland.
(b) New York.
(c) Topeka.
(d) San Francisco.

11. Whose friends did Adam’s friend protect Darren from?
(a) Reynolds.
(b) Jason.
(c) Mandy.
(d) Cody Williams.

12. Who invited Darren to stay and have a beer at Ron Williams’ place?
(a) Cody Williams.
(b) Mandy.
(c) Ron.
(d) Ron’s wife.

13. When was Adam in New York having a breakdown about his girlfriend in Spain?
(a) 1999.
(b) 1991.
(c) 1961.
(d) 1997.

14. How did Sima’s relationship with Eric begin?
(a) Eric proposed to her on their first date.
(b) Eric’s girlfriend was jealous of her.
(c) Eric was Sima’s patient.
(d) They were in graduate school together.

15. What advice did Evanson give Adam in Minneapolis?
(a) Compliment the judges.
(b) Get personal with his opponents.
(c) Use icily cold logic.
(d) Use regional speech.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who paid for dinner before Jane’s event?

2. How does the reader learn that Darren’s directional instincts were wrong?

3. Jonathan compares his classmate Russell to a character in what book?

4. How does Jonathan describe the encounter he had with a girl at a bath house?

5. How does the narrator say people like Darren learn to differentiate themselves in this country?

(see the answer keys)

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