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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. To which of the following does the narrator compare Dred Douglas?

2. In which of the following subdivisions does Jo Jo live?

3. With which of the following stones does Octavia track Dinah?

4. Which of the following is the makeup of the band at Octavia’s mansion?

5. On which of the following is Octavia’s mansion?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reasons does the narrator give for not having taken Nigel to their city’s team’s basketball games before the novel?

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

3. What does the narrator note the Racing Form tracks?

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

5. What does the narrator recall of Tyrod’s life with his son?

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

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

8. What functions in the community does the narrator ascribe to the Chicken Coop?

9. What scenario do the narrator and Nigel role-play while stuck in traffic on the way to Jo Jo’s?

10. What reasons does the narrator give for having distanced himself from Supercargo?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator remarks, “I knew my mother well enough to understand that she would object to my plans for Nigel even more vehemently than Penny did” (72). What causes might the narrator have for proceeding despite the certainty of opposition from his wife and mother? What in the novel and in experience suggest as much? How does it 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

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?

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