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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens between the bus driver and the narrator in Chapter 18, THE NIGHT I WAS MADE?
(a) The bus driver sexually touches the narrator.
(b) The bus driver kisses the narrator.
(c) The bus driver beats up the narrator.
(d) The bus driver and the narrator talk about pornography.

2. What does Manny scream at while Paps is beating him for going to the field in Chapter 15, TRASH KITES?
(a) "You're no father!"
(b) "I hate you!"
(c) "Thief!"
(d) "Murderer!"

3. What are the narrator's brothers doing while Paps spends time with the narrator in the bathtub at the end of the novel?
(a) They are crying outside on the porch.
(b) Huddled in the living room watching TV.
(c) Sweeping the snow off the truck.
(d) They have gone to the neighbors.

4. What does Paps tell the narrator when he pulls him out of the hole in Chapter 14, TRENCH?
(a) "You come on out of that trench" (81).
(b) "The war is over" (81).
(c) "Could be. Could be magic. We'll see" (80).
(d) "What'd you take your clothes off or something?" (80).

5. What does Ma mean by, "But I need you to tell me what to do?" to the brothers at the park (72)?
(a) Ma means that the brothers have to tell her to leave Paps.
(b) Ma means that the brothers have to tell Paps and Ma where to drive next.
(c) Ma means that the brothers have to tell Ma how to sell the truck.
(d) Ma means that the brothers have to tell Ma how to save enough money for a new car.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the narrator says that he expects Manny to talk back to the headbanger, what can the reader infer about the narrator's opinion of Manny?

2. Who is the narrator illustrating at the start of Chapter 18, THE NIGHT I AM MADE, on Page 103?

3. At the start of Chapter 14, TRENCH, what does Manny smear under the brothers' eyes, because they are wearing camouflage clothing?

4. On the highway, why does a woman offer to bring the brothers anywhere they need to go?

5. What does Ma say to the brothers at the park while they are hiding in a canoe?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do you know that the narrator and the bus driver have a sexual encounter? (Provide a quote.)

2. How does the narrator react to seeing his journal in Ma's lap at the end of the novel?

3. In the final Chapter, ZOOKEEPER, what do you realize about the narrator's mindset?

4. Why might the author share that the narrator remembers an erotic situation in a public pool locker room before viewing the tape the headbanger shares?

5. Why might the brothers claim to be "Ma's Militia" (80) in Chapter 14, TRENCH?

6. What does it say about the narrator when he ponders, "Who knows this mutt life, this race mixing? Who knows Paps?" (104) in Chapter 19, THE NIGHT I AM MADE?

7. Why is it unusual for the narrator to be dancing like a "mer-man prince" (100) at the museum theater in Niagara Falls?

8. Why is Manny the first one to come out of the dark to face the headbanger after breaking a window of the headbanger's family camper?

9. How does the narrator deviate from the other brothers when it comes to lying in the hole Paps has dug?

10. How does Paps comment about the narrator's dancing: "Goddamn, I got me a pretty one" (102) contribute to your understanding of Paps understanding of his son?

(see the answer keys)

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