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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 do the narrator and Paps eat after leaving the museum in Chapter 17: NIAGARA?

2. How does Manny specifically explain black magic in Chapter 16, WASN'T NO ONE TO STOP THIS?

3. Who do the brothers imitate while playing their chalk circle game in Chapter 16, WASN'T NO ONE TO STOP THIS?

4. In Chapter 18, THE NIGHT I WAS MADE, subsection: "MIDNIGHT," what does the narrator share with the reader about Paps and Ma?

5. What does Manny scream at while Paps is beating him for going to the field in Chapter 15, TRASH KITES?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do you discover about the brothers' place in the neighborhood through the presentation on Page 90?

2. What do you believe is Ma's original intention when she takes the brothers to the park? How does the reader know that?

3. What "lie" does the narrator assume his brothers think about their futures while standing on the loading dock?

4. What does Manny's dream about kites represent for the brothers and their futures? Provide a quote that shows your reasoning.

5. In Chapter 15, TRASH KITES, how does the reader know that the narrator feels differently from his brother Joel about watching Manny be beaten by Paps? What does this say about the narrator as a character?

6. 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?

7. How does Manny explain his idea of "God" to his brothers after playing the chalk circle game?

8. At the start of Chapter 16, WASN'T NO ONE TO STOP THIS, while playing a game, what do the brothers' imitation of Paps divulge about their sensibilities?

9. What does the narrator claim is the closest to being "made" he has ever been while hiding in the bus station bathroom? What does this exploit reveal about the narrator's secret?

10. What doubts does the narrator have about why he wrote his personal longings in his journal?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Manny has a symbolic dream at the end of Chapter 15, TRASH KITES. Examine pages 84-85, identify the symbol of "kites" and analyze how the dream exposes more about the nature of the brothers' situation.

Essay Topic 2

While at the Lake, Ma asks the narrator how come he is unable to swim, which surprises him, because Ma should be well aware about an earlier incident when the narrator nearly drowned. The narrator considers, "She asked the question as if she was meeting me for the first time...as if it had only just now occurred to Ma how odd it was that I was here, clinging to her and Paps..." (20). What does the narrator's confusion reveal about his relationship with Ma?

Essay Topic 3

At the start of the novel, Ma asks the brothers to squirt tomato juice on her. Before being splattered, she compares the brothers appearance, covered in red tomato sliminess, with what the brothers looked like when they were born. Ma requests that the brothers, "Do it to me [Ma]?...Make me born" (6). What does this quote symbolize about Ma and her possible wants, needs, fears, state of mind, or stability? Provide specific examples to support your answer, as well as appropriate quotes.

(see the answer keys)

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