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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. What is the name of Nigel’s school?

2. To which of the following does the narrator compare Nigel?

3. Which of the following is the name of a tour guide at Shanksted?

4. For which of the following is Nigel auditioning?

5. Which of the following law schools does the narrator report having attended?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Tyrod described when the narrator encounters him in Supercargo’s apartment?

2. What attractions does the narrator note Shanksted offers?

3. What reasons does the narrator express for seeking Jo Jo’s help with Octavia’s campaign?

4. What fantasy does Octavia note to the narrator?

5. What explanation is given for the hotbox at Shanksted?

6. What prompts Nigel’s retreat into the art-supply closet at his school?

7. What conditions does Penny attempt to impose on the narrator for traveling to the company retreat with him?

8. What expenses does the narrator note complicate securing Nigel’s procedure?

9. How does the narrator report that Dinah pranked him early in her career?

10. What accoutrements does the narrator note accompany his Roman centurion costume?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the following comment: “Memories could be questioned, distorted, forgotten. But a transcript could not. The physical act of remembering is a bulwark against insanity” (128). Is the comment correct? What in the novel and experience suggest as much, and how do they do so?

Essay Topic 2

Early on, the narrator notes the contents of Octavia’s library, which include Eyes without a Face, The Hip Hop Ontologist’s View of Leda and the Swan, and Blackstone’s Law; Octavia notes that the books are “real, but mainly for effect” (8). What effect are they likely to have, and why?

Essay Topic 3

Explicate the effects of the narrator’s refusal to name himself in the novel.

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