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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who else does Jonathan say was committing a sexual sin at the time when he paid for a sex act at the bath house?
(a) His mother.
(b) Donna Selkie.
(c) His father.
(d) His father’s boss.

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

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

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

5. What was Darren’s relationship with Ron Williams?
(a) Ron was his mother’s friend.
(b) Ron was his boss.
(c) Ron was his friend’s father.
(d) Ron was his neighbor.

6. Why had Jonathan’s family been abroad?
(a) His father was in the military.
(b) His father was a diplomat.
(c) His father wanted to visit his origins.
(d) His father had taken them for a travel year.

7. What was the purple cow lyric used for?
(a) Making Adam and his mother laugh together.
(b) Teaching Adam about colors.
(c) Getting Adam to bed.
(d) Teaching Adam to read.

8. How does Jonathan say his family lived while they were abroad?
(a) Like bums.
(b) Like royalty.
(c) Like traveling minstrels.
(d) Like the locals.

9. Why did Adam prefer poetry to debate?
(a) Debate was harder.
(b) Debate made you nerdy.
(c) Poetry led to better colleges.
(d) Poets got more female attention.

10. Why does Adam say he and his friends included Darren?
(a) Because they were told to.
(b) Because they liked him.
(c) Because they could see that it helped him.
(d) Because they felt bad for him.

11. How does the narrator characterize Adam’s relationship with the part of his brain that was always composing rap lyrics and making arguments?
(a) It clicked on whenever it wanted.
(b) He had to meditate to activate it.
(c) It clicked on when he was stressed.
(d) He could not turn it off.

12. What was Darren’s mother afraid any confrontation with Darren might lead to?
(a) Darren’s departure.
(b) Darren’s suicide.
(c) Darren beating her up.
(d) Jail and death for Darren.

13. How did the “Nowak Carter Gordon Davis types” treat Darren when he hung out with them?
(a) They insulted him.
(b) They asked him to tell them his stories.
(c) They treated him like a pet dog.
(d) They mocked him and got him drunk.

14. How does the reader learn that Darren’s directional instincts were wrong?
(a) Darren tells the reader directly.
(b) Passing hunters tell him.
(c) The narrator tells us.
(d) Darren discovers it.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How did Jane defuse Adam’s meltdown when he could not reach his girlfriend?

3. How many years after the Snowball did Darren’s classmates push a girl toward him and tell him to kiss her?

4. How does Jonathan characterize the sound of adults’ voices while his family lived abroad?

5. How did this story about the special gift make Adam feel about Jane’s family?

(see the answer keys)

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