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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Steinbeck sees many ___________________ along his northeast route.
(a) restaurants
(b) motels
(c) bowling alleys
(d) antique shops

2. According to Steinbeck, every journey has its own __________________.
(a) deadline
(b) personality
(c) climax
(d) price

3. What does Steinbeck think the waitress is capable of doing?
(a) Sucking all the joy from life within her range
(b) Being a gymnast
(c) Becoming a pastry chef
(d) Singing in an all girls' band

4. Where does Steinbeck park his camper on his first night?
(a) In a woods
(b) At a trailer park
(c) Near a farmer's creek
(d) At a roadside rest stop

5. What has Steinbeck become over the years?
(a) A sentimental fool
(b) A famous, contemporary writer
(c) An expert on travel
(d) A cantankerous old man

6. What does Steinbeck call this state of journeying?
(a) Exciting
(b) Bumdom
(c) Freeing
(d) Adventurous

7. Who wants to accompany Steinbeck on the trip?
(a) Steinbeck's lawyer
(b) A neighbor boy
(c) Mrs. Steinbeck
(d) Steinbeck's son

8. What infuriates Steinbeck about a neighbor's boat anchoring prior to the storm?
(a) They anchor too far away from shore.
(b) They have used his anchor without preparation.
(c) They don't use any anchor.
(d) Their amateurish preparation endangers his boat.

9. What does Steinbeck not like about hunting?
(a) The taste of wild game
(b) Cleaning your gun
(c) The clothes you have to wear
(d) It gets too cold

10. How does Charley let Steinbeck know he wants something?
(a) He runs in circles.
(b) He howls.
(c) He barks five times.
(d) He makes a sound through his teeth.

11. What does Steinbeck think of the hunters?
(a) They are the real men in this country.
(b) They will shoot at anything that moves.
(c) They stay out too long.
(d) They are the best guys you'll ever meet.

12. What book does Steinbeck read as he drinks coffee at a rest area?
(a) The Spectator
(b) Quo Vadis
(c) The Hawaiians
(d) East of Eden

13. What does Steinbeck do single-handedly on his boat?
(a) He sends out S.O.S. messages.
(b) He hoists up the anchors.
(c) He steers it out of the bay.
(d) He refinishes the interior.

14. To what does Steinbeck compare the futility of trying to control a trip?
(a) Trying to shoot fish in a barrel
(b) Trying to control a marriage
(c) Trying to herd cats
(d) Trying to swim upstream

15. Of what does the sight of a nuclear submarine remind Steinbeck?
(a) The Cold War
(b) His fear of enclosed places
(c) His days in the navy
(d) A story he once wrote

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Steinbeck plan to stay the next night?

2. What is the heritage of the Canadians?

3. Where does Steinbeck stay in a motel on his second night?

4. What does Steinbeck hope to accomplish on the trip?

5. What is unusual about the inn Steinbeck finds?

(see the answer keys)

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