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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. Who are the neighbors that Howard goes to in order to borrow a horse to look for George after he's run away in Chapter 2?

2. What is Howard's middle name?

3. What religious denomination does the narrator say George settled on after being a Methodist and a Congregationalist in Chapter 1?

4. The one occurrence when George witnesses one of his father's grand mal seizures is during Christmas dinner in what year?

5. What three states does the narrator say George's grandchildren are visiting from in the beginning of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the setting change in Chapter 1 when George's family leaves him to prepare lunch?

2. What "odd jobs" of Howard Crosby's are described in Chapter 1?

3. What does George ask for when he awakens ninety-six hours before his death? Who obliges his solicitation?

4. What does George discover in his mother's pamphlet in Chapter 2, Part 2? How does she respond when she finds him reading it?

5. How is the setting described when George awakens "one hundred and thirty-two hours" before he dies in Chapter 1?

6. Who appears to be reading to George when he awakens in Chapter 1, Part 2? What book is being read?

7. How does Howard find George after he's run away from home in Chapter 2, Part 2? What are his thoughts upon finding his son?

8. Why do you think the author has constructed Tinkers with a nonlinear timeline? Why does he shift the narrative between Howard and George's stories in Chapter 1?

9. What does Howard witness George doing with a dead mouse in the woods in Chapter 2, Part 1?

10. What is signified by Howard's action of building a fire after his seizure in Chapter 1, Part 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and discuss the character of George Washington Crosby in Tinkers. What is significant about George’s name? How old is George as he dies? Where did George grow up? What degree did George earn, and what career did he have? How does George evolve as a character in the course of the story?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the nonlinear aspects of Tinkers. When and where in the story does the narrative go back and forward through time? Why does the author make these abrupt shifts? Why do you think the author chooses not to delineate the transitions in the narrative and time period?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the contemporary setting of Tinkers. What clues in the narrative indicate the time period in which George lay dying in the hospital bed in his living room? Where does George live with his wife? Where are his family members visiting from?

(see the answer keys)

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