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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 does Sophie want to fix on the boat?

2. In the story Sophie tells, what does Bompie use to try to cross the Ohio River?

3. In the story Sophie tells, what does Bompie tell himself while he rushes to get to the other side of the river?

4. What does Uncle Stew call Sophie?

5. How does Sophie's mom say that Bompie remembers his stories?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to the car in Sophie's story about Bompie?

2. What does the tall, lanky woman that Cody and Sophie meet show them?

3. What habit of speech does Cody have that annoys most of the people on the boat?

4. Describe Uncle Mo.

5. What does Sophie think of the boat when she first sees it?

6. What does Cody's mom tell him when he talks to her on the phone?

7. What does Uncle Dock do, when the fog comes in, and how does it affect Sophie?

8. What story does Sophie tell Cody about a little kid she knows?

9. What does Sophie think of the Ohio River?

10. Why does Uncle Mo worry while Cody and Sophie are away visiting Wood Island?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Storytelling has an important role in the novel, through both Bompie and Sophie's storytelling. Discuss storytelling in the novel.

1) Why does Sophie tell Bompie's stories during the journey? What does Sophie add to these stories? Why does she choose certain stories to tell?

2) Why does Bompie share his stories with Sophie in his letters?

3) What is the significance of the "little kid" stories that Sophie tells?

Essay Topic 2

The novel centers around memory and remembering. Discuss these elements in the novel.

1) How is Bompie's failing memory during his illness important to the story? Why does Sophie want to keep Bompie's memory alive through his stories?

2) How is memory unreliable in the novel? How are Sophie and Bompie's memories both unreliable in different ways?

3) How does memory drive the characters? How do Sophie's repressed memories drive her? How do Dock's memories of Rosalie drive him?

Essay Topic 3

The characters in the novel all deal with tragedy and loss. Discuss dealing with tragedy in the novel.

1) How does Dock deal with the loss of Rosalie? How is this loss a tragedy for Dock?

2) How does Sophie deal with the loss of her parents?

3) What other tragedies do characters deal with? Is Stew's loss of his job a tragedy? Does Cody deal with tragedy?

(see the answer keys)

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