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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 George wrap the dead mouse with in Chapter 2?

2. What does George put the wrapped dead mouse inside of in Chapter 2?

3. What was Kathleen's maiden name?

4. Who is the author of The Reasonable Horologist that is quoted in Chapter 1?

5. As Howard stands outside of his house, watching his children in the window in Chapter 2, he thinks, "I will pay my debts with" what?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What prompts Howard's decision to leave his family in Chapter 2, Part 2? Is this action a selfish or selfless act?

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

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. When is the only occurrence when George witnesses firsthand one of his father's seizures?

6. 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?

7. How is the natural phenomenon of lightning used as a metaphor in Chapter 1?

8. What relationship does George Washington Crosby have with clocks in the novel? How did this relationship begin?

9. How does the narrator describe George's attempt to make a memoir by cassette tape in Chapter 1?

10. How would you compare the imagery of Howard's home and George's home in the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author’s style of dialogue in the novel. Why do you think that Paul Harding chooses not to use quotation marks when the characters speak to one another? How does this choice affect you as a reader? How is the choice reflective of the themes in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the symbolism and imagery depicted in George’s building of the funeral pyre for the dead mouse in Chapter 2. Why does George do this? What does Howard think as he watches his son? What does this action tell you about George’s character?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze and discuss the character of Howard Aaron Crosby in Tinkers. How is Howard perceived by his wife and children? How does the narrator describe Howard’s seizures? In what ways is Howard similar to George? How is he different?

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