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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the end of chapter 44, Tom Crick decides that what people really want to know isn't truth. What they really want is...

2. What is the way out everybody in Price's nightmare uses except for Price?

3. Who tells Harry Crick the truth about Freddie Parr and Dick?

4. When Harry Crick hears that Mary told her father that Tom is the father of her aborted child, what does he tell Tom they should do?

5. What does Mary tell Tom that she does not tell the judge?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the strains in the novel Waterland concerns the differences between Tom Crick and his student Price. Outline their initial disagreements. Then discuss how Tom slowly guides Price from opposing the study of history to finding it worthwhile. In the novel, this occurs through a series of steps that are both philosophical and personal. Make sure to trace them in a detailed, logical, and chronological fashion. In your conclusion, analyze whether it is Tom who has changed Price or Price who has changed Tom.

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the novel Waterland, the narrator Tom Crick uses fairy-tale language like "once upon a time" and references to supernatural beings like ghosts and witches while he recounts history. Using specific examples from the novel, deduce why Tom Crick does so. Discuss why he feels justified in mixing history and fairy tales.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze Tom's opinions about history and fate and explain how they relate to the relationship between the parents and children he has woven into his narrative. What might the symbolic meaning be of the fact that he and Mary cannot have a child of their own, and the only way for them to have something similar is for Mary to steal an infant and for Tom to claim Price as his son in the pub?

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