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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 Manny's dream, what implied comparison is made about the dream to the brothers' current situation in Chapter 15, TRASH KITES?

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

3. What name does Manny call the woman trying to help them?

4. Why is the narrator frightened by what his brothers want to do to the Grices' camper in Chapter 16, WASN'T NO ONE TO STOP THIS?

5. What does the narrator conclude at the end of Chapter 18, THE NIGHT I AM MADE?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does the headbanger's interpretation of the chalk circle being separated in a way that looks similar to a peace sign contribute to the story?

4. 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?

5. Why does the narrator believe that his family is so furious about what he has written in his journal?

6. How does the narrator relate a stray cat's neglect of drinking milk they have given to her to Ma?

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

9. What is the difference between Paps' reasoning and the brothers' assumptions about Paps digging a hole in the backyard? How does the reader know this?

10. In Chapter 18, THE NIGHT I AM MADE (subsection: MIDNIGHT), why do Manny and Joel say that the narrator is "...fucked up..." (110)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

The final Chapter, ZOOKEEPING is only one page long, but it is still one of the most moving. The narrator's perception of reality are ambiguous and scattered. Review the final chapter for clues about the mental state of the narrator. Summarize how the chapter provides closure, even though it is not explicitly written. How does the writing of the final chapter shift from previous chapters? What does the last line of the chapter represent about how the narrator is handling his situation in the psychiatric ward?

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