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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. After reading Chapter 1, WE WANTED MORE, what point of view is the novel being told from?

2. How does the narrator know Paps and Ma are fighting when Paps returns home in Chapter 9, TALK TO ME?

3. On the last page of Chapter 11, NIGHT WATCH, what is Paps sad/worried about?

4. Why do the brothers have to be quiet in the mornings?

5. When the family car breaks down in the rain, what does Paps use to protect the brothers?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the narrator confused when Ma asks him why he is unable to swim in Chapter 5, LAKE?

2. At the end of Chapter 10, NIGHT WATCH, Paps says,"We're never going to escape this...Never" (60). What is he sure the narrator's family will not escape?

3. How do you know that the narrator and his brothers are ravenous for more life according to the first page of the novel?

4. Why do the narrator and Joel hide in a crawlspace when Paps returns home after being gone for many days?

5. Why may Ma choose to call the narrator's family's new vehicle, "Big-Dick Truck"?

6. Having the knowledge of Ma's grueling work schedule and unstable behavior, why might the narrator say after Ma awakes confused, "It was a Sunday, but no one told Ma that" (5)?

7. What may the Quote provided before the Title Page relate to you about a theme or important motif of the novel?

8. At the start of Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME, how does Paps show an expression of regret when he returns to the family's home?

9. What kind of support does Lina provide to the narrator's family when she comes to visit?

10. As the brothers hid in the bathtub, Paps and Ma pretend to not know and do not immediately come to find them. What deep fears does the narrator share about this lack of attention?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of Chapter 9, TALK TO ME, the narrator and Joel impersonate a phone call between Paps and Ma that begins argumentative but ends in what could be considered rather contrasting reactions, either despairing or hopeful depending your viewpoint. What do Joel's final statements symbolize about family life and the future?

Essay Topic 2

At the park, Ma feeds the ducks while the brothers wonder off onto a highway. They encounter a woman who is worried that the brothers are dangling their legs off a bridge. When the family leaves the park, Manny calls "a woman" a bitch, but it is unclear whether he is referring to the woman from the highway or Ma. According to the plot line of he novel, which woman do you believe Manny is making reference to and why? What specific aspects of the Chapter lead you to that conclusion?

Essay Topic 3

The Old Man shares an analogy with the brothers about locusts that the narrator has trouble deciphering. The narrator ends the Chapter speculating, "And the other locusts, what's wrong with them, why do they come last, and what's left for them to eat?" (38). How does this quote fit the narrator's view on his own fears about identity and belonging? What does this explanation of this chain of events represent in the greater themes of the novel?

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