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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. When Chapter 10 presents narration from Pete's perspective, how many years has it been since Tony Smith's murder?

2. How many dead children's bodies were found in Frank Carter's house?

3. How long has it been since Tom wrote anything, as revealed in Chapter 13?

4. When the writer of the prologue apologizes at the end of the passage, for what transgression does he apologize?

5. Who was the first person to find Rebecca after her death?

Short Essay Questions

1. What piece of information does Mrs. Spencer remember and tell Amanda that causes Amanda to race to meet with Colin, her superior?

2. What new details about the Tony Smith case does the reader learn in Chapter 7?

3. What aspect of Jake's drawing bothers Tom in Chapter 8?

4. When the girl in the checked white-and-blue dress repeats the whole rhyme to Jake in Chapter 17, what acts does it warn against taking?

5. What event occurs at the end of Part Two that causes Tom to call the police?

6. Provide evidence for the conclusion that Pete is a determined man.

7. What is Jake's response to the concern Tom voices in Chapter 9 about Jake's drawing?

8. Whose courage does Pete admire in Chapter 12 when he reflects upon the capture of Frank Carter?

9. The reader learns in Chapter 19 the reason behind Pete's divorce from his wife Sally. What was the reason?

10. What symbolism does Tom see within the name Featherbank?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Trace the characterization arc of Tom’s character throughout the novel The Whisper Man. Discuss whether Tom is a round or flat character and whether Tom is a static or dynamic character.

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within North’s novel The Whisper Man. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss North's choice to tell the story of The Whisper Man using the first person point-of-view for Tom and a third person limited omniscient narrator for other narrators, such as the child-murderer, Amanda, Jake, and even Pete. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are North’s intended effects on the reader?

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