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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. Where had Andrew been a schoolteacher before he biked across the country?

2. Where was Stewart living when he was deported from America?

3. What word does the author describe printed on the side of the boat that passed beneath him and Weston while they stopped on the Golden Gate Bridge?

4. Who are the author's friends that drove him and Weston to their launch site for the journey?

5. How many "miles to go" are listed in the opening of Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author describe his understanding of homosexuality while growing up?

2. What does the author write about travel in his opening Prologue?

3. What was Jed's family like growing up? How would you describe his parents' relationship?

4. Who is Linda and how is she described?

5. How did the author's journey start out? What did he struggle with?

6. Who is Miguel and how did the author encounter him?

7. Why did the author go home in Chapter 9?

8. How did the author self-protect as he grew up?

9. Where did the author work before he began his journey?

10. What did the author do to prepare for his journey?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's completion of his journey. Where did his journey end? Why did he choose this ending site? What did he do to celebrate?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the setting where the author began his journey. Why did he choose this setting? How is the setting described? What were his perceptions of this setting as the journey began?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the plot structure and development in To Shake the Sleeping Self. Where would you denote the narrative's climax? How does the author build up to that climax? What information is related in the falling action and denouement of the plot?

(see the answer keys)

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