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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 Howard's mule?

2. What sport does Ezra Morrell love and follow?

3. Who does the narrator describe as having gone mad and lit his house on fire, killing himself and a woman with two children, in Chapter 2?

4. What game do Howard and George play on the porch when George is a child in Chapter 2?

5. What novel does Howard discover on his porch after pulling the hermit's tooth in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author go about illustrating the opposite natures of George and Howard in Chapter 2?

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

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

4. How would you describe the differences between George and Howard Crosby in terms of their successes in life?

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

6. Who is George's father in the narrative? What did George's father do for a living?

7. What thoughts does Howard have regarding human perception of one's condition in the end of Chapter 2?

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

9. Where does George go when he runs away from home in Chapter 2, Part 2? What does he take with him?

10. What metaphor is illustrated through the descriptions of George's house in Chapter 1, Part 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the themes of abandonment and loss in Tinkers. How does Howard’s sense of loss over his father later influence his own actions? How does Howard’s loss compare with George’s? Do these losses build upon one another?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the narrative perspectives employed in Tinkers. Is the main body of the story told from a first, second, or third-person narrator? How does the narrative shift in the novel? What indications does the author give for these changes in narrative style? Is the main narrator’s perspective limited or omniscient? How would the story differ if it were related with a different narrator?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the characters of Reverend and Mrs. Crosby in Tinkers. How old are Rev. Crosby and Mrs. Crosby in Howard’s flashbacks to his father’s mental deterioration? What kind of relationship do they have with their son? What do you think are the causes of Reverend Crosby’s collapse?

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