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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. How does the chubby Chipmunk retaliate against Captain Crabtree's authoritarian manner?

2. Who is the first boy to leave the contest?

3. In what city landmark is the narrator stalled?

4. Who is the scholarly one in the narrator's dorm?

5. What does the narrator imagine killing him as he tried to evade the tailgater?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Proust and Balzac block out the world and what does that same thing for the narrator?

2. How did the narrator's army experience separate him from the world?

3. How were the boys initiated into camp life upon their arrival?

4. Why does the narrator question his impatience to get through the tunnel?

5. How did the fat Chipmunk earn the name of Skunk?

6. What does the narrator think about the New Jersey traffic circles?

7. Why does the book never mention the narrator's wartime experiences?

8. Describe the experience of Dan Baxter being punished for smoking cigarettes.

9. Who is Ernie and what happened to him during the narrator's story of KP duty?

10. Describe the narrator's experience on cleanup detail at camp.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the format of the book. How does the narrator distinguish between current activity and flashbacks to his past? What is the difference is style and tone? Are the differentiations separated visually in any way? How did this improve your reading of this book?

Essay Topic 2

Humor takes on an almost human persona in this story. What is this literary technique called? Cite examples that support this position.

Essay Topic 3

Give some examples of humor in the book. Do you think Shepherd appreciated slapstick humor or wit of a more sophisticated nature? Or both? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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