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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 is the name of the law enforcement official above both Pete and Amanda?

2. How many guards escort Frank Carter to his visit with Pete in Chapter 15?

3. What color hair does Karen have when Tom first meets her at Jake's school?

4. Tom states in Chapter 8 that he and Jake are happy in their new home for how many weeks?

5. In Chapter 17, Jake gets moved to what color on the discipline chart on his very first day of school?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Jake learn about the death of his mother, Rebecca?

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

3. At what point in the investigation of Neil Spencer's disappearance does Pete get officially involved?

4. What does Jake do when Tom asks if he wants to say goodbye at the end of Chapter 4?

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

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

7. For what reason has Tom worried about the trajectory of his career in the wake of Rebecca's death?

8. From whose perspective is the beginning of Chapter 1 narrated and what is the setting?

9. Describe the man who rings Tom's doorbell at the end of Chapter 13 and meets him at the start of Chapter 14.

10. What is the significance of the line, "If you leave a door half open" (12)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that discusses the symbolism of the cover art chosen for The Whisper Man.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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