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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. What poem did Thomas Lynch recite his fall from a fire escape in college?

2. What kind of food did Lynch say many neighbors brought over after his divorce?

3. What American TV show did Nora Lynch begin watching once she got her first television set?

4. Approximately how many acres are in a par four hole on a golf course?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Lynch's father fond of quoting Gladstone?

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

3. Why did the priest insist on a simple funeral and burial service and why was Lynch unimpressed?

4. How does society generally view cemeteries, according to Lynch?

5. How did Lynch describe the difference between chance and coincidence?

6. What did Lynch lament about the modern homes Americans live in?

7. Did Lynch profess to a certain fascination with dead bodies?

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

9. What was Lynch's view of the notion that the corpse is just an empty shell?

10. Why did Nugent have several relationships following his divorce and did they help him find love?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Lynch's friend, Matthew Sweeney. What does his hypochondria say about his attitude toward life? Is he wasting or damaging his life in useless worrying? Or does his worrying simply indicate a deeper understanding of life and acceptance of the fact that death is inevitable? Does his hypochondria place limits on how he lives his life or does it free him to embrace with gusto the good aspects of life (such as fine food)?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the artichoke poem described in Chapter 5. How did the poet use sexual imagery in describing the vegetable? Why did he choose to describe an artichoke instead of a woman? Why did so many people respond to the poem in the way the author clearly intended? Is there some unspoken connection between food and sex?

Essay Topic 3

In discussing the divorce of his friend, Henry Nugent, Lynch said divorced men in our society are seen as damaged goods. What did he mean by that? In what ways was the divorce easier on Nugent's ex-wife? How does divorce affect the father's relationship with the children? How did Lynch's divorce differ from many other American divorces?

(see the answer keys)

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