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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 do the people at Horner Homes call Urica?

2. How many inmates was the Cook County jail built to house?

3. What type of person is Rickey?

4. Where does Bird Leg get his pets?

5. How have the stadium's owners, the Wirz family, changed the character of the neighborhood?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the emotions of the project boys and the train passengers as a train passes while the boys search for snakes.

2. Point out the contradictions in the character of Jimmie Lee.

3. When Lafeyette is caught shoplifting, how does LaJoe react?

4. Describe Pharoah's secret place.

5. What is the contrast between the murders in an affluent school and the shooting of Alonzo at Horner?

6. Describe the relationship between LaJoe and her husband, Paul.

7. What is LaJoe's expectations for Pharoah?

8. How does the teacher's strike of 1988 affect Pharoah?

9. Explain why LaJoe believes Terrence is innocent when she visits him in Cook County Jail.

10. Describe Pharoah's problem that gets him eliminated from the spelling bee.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on the exploitation of children. Begin with the need for Lafeyette to grow old before his time. Expand that theme to child soldiers and sweatshop laborers. Discuss how and why this exploitation happens to children all over the world.

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on the value of hope in life. Explain why it is important for people to believe figuratively in the gold and leprechauns at the end of the rainbow. What is the value of life without hope? Do you see it as logical that people who have no hope also have no sense of moral responsibility?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay entitled "Society's Forgotten People." In addition to the example of the Rivers family, mention other groups of people our society fails. In the essay, discuss how people are measured by the amount of material things they possess and the money they have in the bank and in investments.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 891 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample