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

2. What was Darren’s mother afraid any confrontation with Darren might lead to?

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

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

5. What made Jane see that her Christmas gift was not, in fact, special?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways did Adam and his friend shift their aggression into the realm of language?

2. How did Adam lose his L-D debate?

3. How does Adam characterize his circle’s relationship with Darren?

4. What aspect of Adam’s friends’ culture led to the melee that started with Reynolds and Darren?

5. How did Jonathan’s relationship with Sima begin?

6. How did the time at the roller rink return seven years later in the basement at Jason’s party?

7. What is the one situation that holds numerous times together in the “New York School” chapter?

8. What is the difference between extemp and Lincoln-Douglass debate?

9. What advice did Evanson give Adam at the debate tournament in Minneapolis?

10. In what condition did Darren wake up at Clinton Lake?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the weakest part of this novel? Of the different weak sections, which gives you the most insight in to the author’s theory of what a novel is, and what it ought to do? How would you have suggested strengthening these weak passages?

Essay Topic 2

In what way is The Topeka School a bildungsroman (or kunstlerroman)? What are the stages of maturation it narrates? How does the novel draw a distinction between developmental stages, and how does it move characters from one stage to another?

Essay Topic 3

Write an evaluative review of The Topeka School. What is this book’s place in our culture? Who will find this book most useful? What are its uses? What are its limitations?

(see the answer keys)

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