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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. This prologue is does which of the following?

2. Who does Miller remember as one of his first successful-father-figure role models in his life?

3. Initially, how does Miller react to the spiritual discussion of a relationship between God and fathers?

4. As a child, what type of clubs does Miller think men participated in?

5. What were MacMurray and Miller going to do when Miller begins to understand the connection between God and fathers?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 3, Miller admits to being resentful towards authority figures. To whom is he referring and why?

2. According to the information in the prologue, who is the intended audience for this book?

3. In Chapter 2, Miller again tells stories that span his life. What is the effect of this storytelling approach on the reader?

4. How does Miller get to Boring, Oregon?

5. Miller states that his experience in which he did not get to enter a derby car in the race did not affect him. Do you agree? Why or why not?

6. In Chapter 6, Miller's tone changes. He also more exclusively addresses his intended audience. How does his tone change and what positive and negative effect can these changes have on the reader?

7. What does Miller learn about family from living with the MacMurray family?

8. What role does church play in Miller's life and why does he join a church in Boring, Oregon?

9. Miller presents statistics about the percentage of males in prison raised without a father. He suggests there is a connection between these statistics and the orphaned elephants. What is this connection?

10. Miller describes how on their first musth, young, orphaned elephants go into the wild and find a male mentor who shows them how to be a male elephant. If the young elephant cannot do this, what happens to the young elephant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Miller writes about his faith journey as one of the focus for this book. He describes multiple aspects of this search in finding a relationship with God; thus, faith becomes a major theme in this book. What does Miller equate his faith journey with in this book? Why or how does he do this? Do you agree with his approach to use faith as a analogy? If not, what would you do differently with this focus?

Essay Topic 2

Miller's writes this memoir about his life as a child raised without a father and the impact this had on his life. However, the role the rest of his family plays in his life is minimally addressed in this book. He refers occasionally to other family members. What do you know about his family when you finish this book? Who does he identify? How does he describe them? What do you believe Miller wants you to believe about his family members? What do you know about his relationship with the family that he does discuss? What techniques does he use to present his family to the reader? Do these techniques work? What do you wish you knew about his family? How would knowing this effect your reaction to this book?

Essay Topic 3

You have finished the book. Evaluate the author's ability to present his message, effectively or not, to the reader. What techniques does the author use to present his message and himself? What are the strengths of this method of memoir writing? What are the limitations of this approach to memoir writing? Does the author have biases in the book? What worked for you as you read this book? What did not? Use examples from the book to support your opinion.

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