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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What starts to slow Steinbeck's progress?
(a) Steinbeck is in awe of the scenery.
(b) Steinbeck diverts from his itinerary.
(c) Steinbeck stops to take more photographs.
(d) Charley is having urinary trouble and their stops are taking longer.

2. According to Steinbeck, what do people living in a bland world crave?
(a) Restaurants serving spicy foods
(b) Science fiction books
(c) Travel magazines about foreign countries
(d) Sex and violence in their fiction

3. Why has Steinbeck's visit disturbed his family?
(a) He makes long distance phone calls on their phones.
(b) They want to remember the younger Steinbeck of their memories.
(c) He drinks too much beer.
(d) He has parked his camper in the yard.

4. What does Steinbeck call the previous guest of a hotel room he waits in temporarily?
(a) Johnny on the Spot
(b) Marvel the Magician
(c) The Invisible Man
(d) Lonesome Harry

5. What does Steinbeck exclude from the novel?
(a) The notes he makes in a journal
(b) The Chicago reunion with his wife
(c) The notes he makes on a tape recorder
(d) Phone calls he places to his family

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the park ranger warn Steinbeck about as he enters the answer to #130?

2. What disrupts the family visit?

3. Where is Steinbeck's last stop in California?

4. Where does Steinbeck go for a family visit?

5. To Steinbeck, Texas is not so much a place as a _________________________.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Steinbeck encounter in New Orleans that sickens him?

2. How does Steinbeck justify his opinion that the river crossing at Bismarck is the true demarcation between east and west?

3. How does Steinbeck diffuse a father and son fight when he rents a cabin one night?

4. Explain the irony in the scene where Steinbeck and Charley explore a sequoia grove.

5. Explain how the Badlands are a study in opposites.

6. What effect is the Cold War having on average Americans?

7. What does Steinbeck admire most about Texans?

8. What is Steinbeck's intention for stopping at Sauk Centre, Minnesota?

9. What has Steinbeck learned about America so far?

10. What is the purpose of Steinbeck's stop in Texas?

(see the answer keys)

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