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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. Which boy is most aggressive about asking the two girls to take their clothes off?

2. What does Tom Crick find in the river that he thinks caused the bruise that killed Freddie Parr?

3. What tells Tom that he and Mary must finish their argument quickly because the park is about to close?

4. During the festivities for the newly crowned King George V, the New Atkinson Brewery is destroyed. How?

5. What does Dick do when he finds the bottle?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the surprise Tom Crick encounters when he stands up to speak at the end of chapter 48?

2. In chapter 19, Tom Crick describes the beginning of the decline of his grandfather, Ernest Atkinson. Discuss what caused that decline.

3. Chapter 16 is titled "Longitude 0°." What is this a reference to?

4. In chapter 13, Tom Crick uses a pun on the word "histrionics" to explain his feelings. What is that pun and what is its significance?

5. Chapter 9 details the rise of the Atkinson family through various activities and involvements. After Tom Atkinson marries Sarah Turnbull. Sarah becomes a pivotal character in the Atkinson story. How?

6. In chapter 22, the role of Ernest Atkinson in the events of Coronation Day is ambiguous. Please describe the events of Coronation Day and why they appear to have happened.

7. In chapter 24, Tom, Dick, Freddie Parr, Mary Metcalf, and a few other kids are playing together near the water. What is the importance of the eel to all the events that transpire afterwards?

8. In chapter 11, Tom Crick describes the inquest into Freddie Parr's death. What does the judge determine is the official cause of death, and how does he arrive at his conclusion?

9. Who does the chapter title "The Saviour of the World" refer to, and what does it mean?

10. In chapter 42, a new-found confidante helps Mary to get something Mary wants. What is that?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sexual relationships and their consequences are central to Graham Swift's novel Waterland. Choose one of those relationships between the characters and their sexuality. Explore why the characters express their sexuality as they do. Explain the consequences these choices have for each of them and for their partners. Analyze in how far their sexual development is tied to external factors--such as social pressure--over which they have no control, and in how far it is their own choices that lead to the consequences that they have to face.

Essay Topic 2

One important theme in Graham Swift's novel Waterland is the tension between people from different social backgrounds. Choose one of the characters who crosses a social barrier in an important relationship and has to suffer the consequences for doing so. Using specifics from the book, trace the character's reasons, actions, and the reactions of those who are and those who are not from his or her own social class. What might the author be trying to show about history and about society by including the instance you chose in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

During his history lessons, the narrator of Graham Swift's novel Waterland, Tom Crick, stops teaching directly about the French Revolution and instead begins to tell stories about the Fenlands and about his family history. Giving specific examples from the book, explain why Tom Crick does this and what he wants to convey about the meaning of history by employing that tactic.

(see the answer keys)

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