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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. As an adult, the narrator is a former what?

2. What does the narrator, as an adult, receive from his mother?

3. As an adult, the narrator lives in what type of dwelling?

4. What do Schwartz and the narrator order after finishing the first item they order?

5. Before the narrator can invite a girl to the Spring Dance, he decides that first they must what?

Short Essay Questions

1. With the Bumpuses long gone, who finally moves in next door to the Shepherds?

2. How does the narrator prepare for his date with Josephine?

3. What happens to the adult narrator's fire chief hat?

4. Why doesn't the narrator ask Daphne Bigelow to the prom?

5. After the prom, Schwartz and the narrator take their dates to the Rooster. What happens there?

6. Describe the narrator's experience as he waits for Josephine to finish getting ready for their date.

7. How does the narrator ask Wanda Hickey to the prom?

8. How does the narrator's date with Josephine end?

9. What does the narrator compare the prom to?

10. How does the narrator's prom night end?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

1. Describe the personality and any salient character traits of each of the following: Randy, the narrator, Mother, and the Old Man.

2. How do the personalities and character traits of these individuals complement each other in ways that make their family function together?

Essay Topic 2

The book's time line covers the narrator's childhood and teen years. How does the narrator change, develop, and grow from the beginning to the end of the book? In what ways do the stories evolve? In what instances does the author seem to act about the same as a teenager as he did as a child?

Essay Topic 3

After the narrator opens a box that he receives as an adult and peruses through the childhood treasures found inside, he decides to pack everything back up and hide it on the top shelf of a closet. Explain what this says about the author's viewpoint on stirring up the past.

(see the answer keys)

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