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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 Holston surrounded by in his condo in Chapter 3?

2. Whom does Holston see picking up scattered chalk and crayons from the stained tiles at the top of the stairs in Chapter 1?

3. What word from Chapter 2 means essential or fundamental?

4. Holston’s office is described in Chapter 1 as being between the cafeteria and what?

5. How many years is Holston said to have “spent silently waiting for what would never come” in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Holston said to relate to his memories of childhood in Chapter 1?

2. What is the protagonist doing when he is first introduced in Chapter 1?

3. How does the character of Allison relate to Holston’s objectives in the story?

4. What does Mayor Jahns say about the holding cell when she first arrives in Chapter 2?

5. What theory does Holston develop for the reason the view is different in the holding room in Chapter 2?

6. What is the theory that Allison presents to Holston in Chapter 3?

7. How is Mayor Jahns’s demeanor described when she meets with Holston in Chapter 2?

8. From what narrative point of view is the story related? Is the narrative told in the past, present, or future tense?

9. What does Allison initially point out to Holston in the beginning of Chapter 3?

10. What is an example of the use of literary repetition in Chapter 1? What purpose does this example serve?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of “truth” in Wool. How do Allison and Holston feel about the importance of truth? What does Allison feel the truth is more important than? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Love and Loss in Wool

a. Discuss Holston’s relationship with his wife, Allison. How close was their relationship? What were the main conflicts within their marriage?

b. In what ways does Holston’s grief over the loss of his wife drive his actions in the story? What do you think is the singular event that sets off the subsequent events in the story?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the tone and mood of Wool as established in the beginning of the novel. How are the tone and mood established in the opening lines of the first chapter? Why does the author choose to juxtapose the sounds of happy children with Holston’s march toward his death? What effect does this have?

(see the answer keys)

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