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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. It is revealed in Chapter 4 that Grady is having an affair with which character?

2. What position does Walter Gaskell hold at the college where Grady teaches?

3. At the time when Grady left his grandmother's home, they lived in the western part of which state?

4. How many years before narrative present did Grady and Emily begin their courtship?

5. Grady left home at a young age in late June of which year?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the symbolism of the lock on Walter's closet door?

2. What were the circumstances of Grady's parents' deaths?

3. What does Grady see as the main difficulty he is having with completing his fourth novel Wonder Boys?

4. How old was Grady when his mother died and what was the cause of her death, as revealed in Chapter 11?

5. In what way does the motif of dreams emerge within Chapter 14 and for what purpose?

6. What major news does Sara reveal to Grady in Chapter 5?

7. What is the significance of the phrase, "He's writing his name in water" (93)?

8. What type of narrator is featured in Michael Chabon's novel Wonder Boys?

9. What two roles does Walter play in Grady's life and why?

10. Though Grady cannot remember the night of his father's suicide, he remembers what other event vividly from around that time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Chabon's message regarding commitment within relationships in the novel Wonder Boys?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the ways in which the themes of adaptability and resignation appear within Chabon’s novel Wonder Boys. What message is Chabon sending about these two themes over the course of the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Chabon's treatment of class within the book Wonder Boys. What are the messages Chabon is attempting to send to the audience and which characters are utilized to relay these messages?

(see the answer keys)

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