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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 kind of tree grows at the house Sadie and Marx buy?

2. As which of the following does the receptionist at Marx’s office dress for Halloween?

3. With which of the following does "VIII. Our Infinite Days" begin?

4. At what address did Marx and Sadie live?

5. In what state was Marx born?

Short Essay Questions

1. What scene confronts Sam when he returns to his office after the shooting?

2. Why does Emily give her neighbors rocks?

3. What core belief does Sam report in his TED talk?

4. Why does Alabaster suggest Emily stock greeting cards?

5. How does the novel define the term NPC?

6. Why does Sadie assert there should be marriages in Mapleworld?

7. Why does Marx opine that he, rather than Sadie, should have a problem with marriage?

8. What joke does Marx make about the title of his memoir?

9. Why does Marx value the end of The Iliad?

10. What is Sam’s method for avoiding the appearance of disability?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what other writer’s work in your experience does Zevin’s seem most similar? What makes the writers similar? What differentiates them? Overall, which do you regard as doing better at the craft of writing, and why?

Essay Topic 2

The comment is made in the novel that “There is no more intimate act than play, even sex” (21). Does the novel bear out the comment? Does experience? How or how not?

Essay Topic 3

The work of one poet pervades the novel. Explicate the significance of that poet to Zevin’s text.

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