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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 item of clothing does Pop wear to walk Deja to school, causing Deja to say that she had not even known Pop had owned one?

2. From what location does Pop retrieve the item of clothing he wears to walk Deja to school?

3. Which of the following statements is true concerning the timeline of 9/11?

4. Deja compares Mr. Schmidt to which Star Wars character?

5. In what year had terrorists tried to bring down the World Trade Center prior to 9/11?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does being friends with Sabeen and Ben change Deja's negative outlook on her own life?

2. What is the symbolism of the Avalon Family Shelter's pancakes?

3. During Deja's father's visit to her school, what does he discover about Deja's teacher Miss Garcia?

4. How does Deja feel about her father's mysterious illness?

5. How is Deja's open-minded nature depicted within her visit to Sabeen's house?

6. How does Ben feel about his new home of New York City in relation to his previous home of Arizona?

7. How is the theme of guilt brought up within the dinner at Sabeen's house?

8. How does Deja process the sight of people falling and leaping out of the windows of the Twin Towers on 9/11?

9. What makes Ben a good choice of partner when Deja needs someone to go with her to the 9/11 Memorial?

10. How is the novel's motif of sound depicted within the scene when Deja watches the video of a plane hitting the first Twin Tower?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within the novel and what is the author's message regarding these themes?

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Jewell Parker Rhodes's novel Towers Falling. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the author's focus on the theme of transformation in the novel Towers Falling. What message is the author sending about change and about one other theme of your choice?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,238 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample