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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. Whose voice is asking the reader to explain what led to the picture of Adam with Bob Dole?

2. Who wrote the story about Ziegler?

3. What does the narrator say is the result of the spread?

4. Who does the narrator say is from the town Adam goes to debate in?

5. Where does Darren say he feels safe?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrative tone change when Bob Dole enters the high school where the debate is taking place?

2. How does Jonathan describe his relationship with Ziegler?

3. How does the narrator characterize Adam’s role in the debate team?

4. How did fame change things for Jane?

5. What was Darren’s job, and how did he lose it?

6. What happens in the Herman Hesse story Jonathan talks about?

7. How does the narrator say that Darren uses chants?

8. How does Jane characterize her relationship with Sima?

9. What significance does Darren attribute to the paper banner cheerleaders hold up for the football team to run through?

10. What was the super power Darren believed he had?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When is The Topeka School most itself? What is its characteristic passage, or moment? What makes that moment or passage the most representative of the book as a whole? Are there any places where the book seems to depart from its typical self, as if to become a different book?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate your own reading of The Topeka School—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 3

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

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This section contains 978 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample