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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 of the following entrees does Nana suggest cooking?

2. Who causes the end of the world?

3. What was Henry’s elementary school mascot?

4. Who joins Adrian in placing nickels in Henry’s gym locker?

5. Who was Henry’s third-grade teacher?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Nana note is the comfort of old age?

2. How does Henry note his mother treats Nana’s meatloaf?

3. Why does Henry take particular care to get home after Marcus picks him up from his old elementary school?

4. What reasons does the narrator give for noting that other versions of ourselves are living better lives than we are?

5. What is Faraci’s Halloween costume at school?

6. What are the model and name of Diego’s car?

7. To what is North Korea’s final aggression ascribed?

8. How is Henry punished for attacking Adrian after the incident with the nickels in his gym locker?

9. What reason does Henry assert for the aliens returning him to Earth naked?

10. What additional insult accompanies Henry’s assault in the showers at school?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A lack of formal sectional division in the novel obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. How might the novel be sectioned off other than it currently is? Why might those divisions be appropriate, based on the text and its contexts of composition and reception?

Essay Topic 2

The novel interpolates a series of end-of-the-world scenarios. What function is served by the inclusion of those scenarios, and how does that function emerge?

Essay Topic 3

Henry’s grandmother says to him “When the days are darkest, dear, you latch on to happiness wherever you find it” (101). Does the novel as a whole support her remarks? What in the novel demonstrates as much, and in what ways does it demonstrate it?

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This section contains 585 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample