View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dave come to believe just before he enters the fifth grade?

2. How often does Dave receive dinner during the summer of 1971?

3. Why does the school nurse begin to be interested in Dave's condition in Chapter 6, While Father is Away?

4. How many days pass before Dave's stab wound gets infected?

5. What type of people does Dave meet after he is rescued?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the actions of Dave's mother when she offers him a plate of food after ten days of not eating.

2. Explain the new punishment Dave's mother invents for him in Chapter 5, While Father is Away, and how he survives it.

3. Explain why Dave's morale is low in the summer of 1971.

4. In Chapter 6, While Father is Away, what does Dave's father vow he will do for Dave someday?

5. Summarize the incidents that happen to Dave on the day his mother takes his brothers to the zoo.

6. Summarize the forms of punishment Dave expects to receive as he turns 11-years-old.

7. Explain what Dave eats after he finished the dishes one day in Chapter 7, The Lord's Prayer.

8. Describe why Dave is so fascinated with a piece of driftwood that is washing ashore in the Epilogue.

9. Describe Dave's behavior in the classroom one a day during the winter of 1973.

10. Explain why Dave's mother gives him roller skates for Christmas.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze Dave as an adult.

- What does he vow to do with his life now that he is free?

- What has he done with his adult life to escape his past and move on?

- Explain how he prevents himself from falling into the black hole of self-pity.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how Dave's mother changes from the beginning of the book to the end.

- How do her attitudes toward her family and Dave in particular change?

- How does her attitude toward Dave's father change?

- What are the differences in her attitude toward the way she takes care of her family, cooking, cleaning, planning vacations, and nurturing change through the course of the book?

Essay Topic 3

Summarize the events in the book that lead Dave to calling his mother's house, 'The Madhouse'. Give several examples from the book and describe how these events are considered insane by Dave.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 785 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample