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

2. Instead of an open field, where does Manny think the brothers should have slept to elude Paps in Chapter 15, TRASH KITES?

3. What does the narrator most likely mean when he says, "I've lost my pack" (125) at the end of the novel in the psychiatric ward?

4. What happens when Ma crawls down into the hole and lies down in Chapter 14, TRENCH?

5. What does Joel say is the reason for Paps' digging a hole in the backyard?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the narrator's mood after being "made" by the bus driver?

2. What does the author's choice to intertwine the narrator's episode in the locker room while watching the pornographic video contribute to uncover the narrator's notion of sexuality?

3. How do the narrator's inner-reflections about his brothers while standing on the loading dock in Chapter 18, THE NIGHT I WAS MADE (subsection: MIDNIGHT) contrast what he has previously gives voice to?

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

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

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

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

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

During Paps' new job as a late night security guard, the brothers accompany him to work throughout the night. The narrator awakens in the middle of the night and has a profound conversation with Paps about why a light is trapped in a cage across the street. How does Paps' reasoning and response present a bigger link to the story and the meaning of being trapped? After reading the entire novel, how might this conversation produce deeper insight into the narrator's feelings and questioning that is not so easily seen from the initial incident?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 6, US PROPER, the brothers are told about their births from Ma. Ma explains how young she was and how Paps "tricked her." At the end of the Chapter, the boys encounter a pregnant woman and ask her unorthodox questions about her own pregnancy. The woman responds that the brothers need to behave properly. Why do you think this Chapter is titled, "US PROPER?" What is the relevance of the word "US" in the Chapter title, when it may have just been called, "BEING PROPER"?

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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