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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. Where did Nathaniel live before he moved to New York?
(a) California.
(b) The Midwest.
(c) The Southwest.
(d) Minnesota.

2. What ridiculous detail does Nathaniel give in his description of the last months of 1999?
(a) Businesses desperately trying to teach their staffs how to do math without computerized cash registers.
(b) Cults announcing that aliens would come to Earth at midnight on New Year's Eve.
(c) Preppers sealing their families into shelters underground.
(d) Celebrity clairvoyants making wild predictions in the tabloids.

3. Of all of the things that Nathaniel can see from Matsumoto's loft, which is most important to him?
(a) The Empire State Building.
(b) The Statue of Liberty.
(c) The World Trade Center.
(d) The Chrysler Building.

4. Besides their minimal rent, what task are Nathaniel and his roommates performing in exchange for a place to live?
(a) They take care of Matsumoto's cats.
(b) They are repainting the loft.
(c) They sort through and forward Matsumoto's mail.
(d) They collect the rent from Matsumoto's other tenants.

5. To what does Nathaniel compare the sight of Manhattan from Matsumoto's loft?
(a) A glass of champagne.
(b) The circuit board of a computer.
(c) Van Gogh's Starry Night.
(d) A miniature city from his childhood train set.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the possible consequences of a global computer failure that Nathaniel mentions could be considered foreshadowing?

2. What is Russell's business relationship to Amity?

3. What does Nathaniel say history teaches us?

4. Where did Nathaniel meet Madison, Amity, and Lyle?

5. From the story's context, when must Charlie have died?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the "View" that the third section of the story is titled for, and why is it special?

2. What is the "Reunion" referred to in the title of the sixth section of the story?

3. What qualities does Nathaniel have that worry his parents?

4. How does the "View" referred to in the third section of the story change in its significance for Nathaniel between his arrival in New York and the narrative present?

5. What is the meaning of the title of the section of the story called "Innocence"?

6. What phrase makes Lucien think about the frog and the boiling water, and why?

7. Explain the non-event that "Nathaniel Recalls the Miracle" is centered on.

8. Describe Rose and Issac.

9. Where are Nathaniel and his friends, in the narrative present, and what are they doing?

10. Why did Nathaniel's friends come to live with him?

(see the answer keys)

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