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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. On what day is a world-killing asteroid discovered?

2. Which of the following does Henry note has a deviated septum?

3. What is Henry’s mother’s maiden name?

4. What dish does Zooey cook the night she announces her pregnancy to the Dentons?

5. What is the name of Henry’s gym teacher?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Henry assert that “God surely meant for humans to live” (23)?

2. How do people react to the appearance of the world-killing asteroid?

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

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

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

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

7. Why does Henry note that “Dreams are hopeful” (135)?

8. What is the initial reaction to the development of nanobots?

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

10. What groups does Henry assert receive anal probes from aliens?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Assuming that We Are the Ants should be standard reading for a given class and level, what class and what level? Why that class and why that level? What in the text suggests as much, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Readerly attention focuses on the following comment: “Sometimes I think gravity may be death in disguise. Other times I think gravity is love, which is why love’s only demand is that we fall” (5). Does the novel affirm or deny the comment, overall? What in the text indicates that summative affirmation or denial? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does We Are the Ants bear as much out?

(see the answer keys)

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