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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 many years of marriage did Nugent's poem refer to?

2. What ethnic food did Robertson and his wife enjoy in celebration of the poem's publication?

3. In what year was Lynch's Michigan house built?

4. What constellation did Lynch refer to when describing peeing outdoors in Michigan?

5. What kind of service did the Irish priest who married Lynch say he wanted?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Lynch mean when he stated that "one hand washes the other" in Chapter 1?

2. How did Lynch handle being a father while serving as an undertaker and seeing dead children?

3. What is the essential difference between burying the old and burying infants?

4. How did Lynch convey the sensuality of the preparation and eating of the artichoke?

5. Why did the Lynch brothers take care of their father's body rather than allow a local undertaker to do the job?

6. Of all the choices offered by Lynch to explain Stephanie's death, which one seemed to be the one he would choose?

7. Why do most people never pay attention to the figure Lynch called "The Big One"?

8. What were the different ways in which loved ones reacted to being asked to collect the ashes of the deceased?

9. How did Lynch try to maintain some of the old traditions after he fixed up the Irish cottage when Nora passed away?

10. According to Lynch, why do people find it important to have bodies to bury?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lynch and his brothers embalmed their father's body at his request. What was the significance of this act? Do you think it was painful or satisfying? Why did the father want his sons to do this? Why did the sons agree to it rather than hire another undertaker from outside the family? How did the father benefit from knowing that his sons would be there for him at his death? And how did the sons benefit from this act?

Essay Topic 2

Lynch discussed how society has accepted certain deaths in the names of choice, justice, and God. How does this willingness to accept the end of life in some cases affect society as a whole? How does a society determine where to draw the line? How does this attitude affect attitudes toward life itself? Why do people who accept some death choices utterly reject others? Is Lynch right when he states that primitive humans had a more civilized attitude toward life and death?

Essay Topic 3

Lynch wanted to know the day he would die so he could recognize the midpoint when he arrived at it. Do you think it is possible to intuitively know the midpoint of your life? Why did Lynch pick that Halloween as his likely midpoint? What was is perspective on his life at that point? What would be the advantages to knowing the midpoint of your life? Would it affect how you viewed different periods of your life? is there actually an equilibrium that people automatically reach at midlife?

(see the answer keys)

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