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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 is the name of the publishing house waiting for Grady to finish writing his latest novel?

2. What type of event is at the center of Chapter 6?

3. In what type of Hollywood deaths is one particular character interested throughout the narrative?

4. Grady discovers the jacket James stole inside of a bag containing what other item?

5. Who owned the McClelland Hotel where Albert Vetch lived?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Grady feel about Hannah and how does act on these feelings?

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

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

5. In what way does the motif of dreams emerge in Chapter 3 and for what purpose does Chabon utilize the motif?

6. What does Grady do with Doctor Dee's body after it is determined that the dog is dead?

7. What does Grady mean when he repeatedly refers to the "midnight disease" (23) in the novel?

8. For what reason is Grady still in shock that Sara ever became involved with him?

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

10. Who was the first "real writer" (3) Grady ever knew and what was his eventual fate?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sensory details are used frequently by Chabon in order to create vivid pictures of the places depicted over the course of the novel Wonder Boys. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used set a particular mood for each of the three scenes.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the many instances of irony within the narrative of Wonder Boys, and analyze Chabon’s purpose for including each instance you discuss.

Essay Topic 3

How does the theme of isolation function within the novel Wonder Boys, and what is Chabon’s message regarding this theme?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 987 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample