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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. When does Mrs. Desrochers say she can watch Jamie?

2. What does Jamie do every Tuesday afternoon?

3. What hits the area two days before Christmas?

4. What does Jamie think the car feels like on the way back home?

5. What is Patty's job at the grocer's?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jamie show his anger in Chapter 7?

2. What does Jamie fantasize in Chapter 7?

3. Summarize Chapter 9.

4. Describe the argument between Patty and Jamie in this section?

5. How does Jamie hide himself and Nin from Van?

6. Summarize the novel.

7. What does Jamie think of Van when he sees him again in the final chapter?

8. Why is Mrs. Desrochers so concerned about Jamie?

9. How does Patty react when she sees Van's truck?

10. What does Jamie remember about the waiter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Mrs. Desrochers help Patty and her children? What does the way she deals with them say about her abilities as a teacher?

Essay Topic 2

In what way does the author suggest Van is not the nasty person he seems at the beginning of the novel? How does this complicate the relationship he has had with Patty? What does this sat the way the author think about humans in general?

Essay Topic 3

Look at the structure of the book.

How does the author use character and dialogue to drive the narrative?

Discuss elements of the narrative structure; Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's themes?

(see the answer keys)

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