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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. Who does Dave eventually call in this chapter?

2. What image does Dave want to present to his brother?

3. Why do Dave and Toph have to rush to the school open house?

4. Where does Dave insist the kids go with him in this chapter?

5. Where does Beth come back from in this chapter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Summarize the second chapter.

2. Why doesn't Dave like telling people why he has to look after Toph?

3. How does Dave's situation change at the beginning of chapter 3?

4. What is wrong with Dave's mother at the beginning of Chapter 1?

5. What problems does Dave have cooking?

6. Why does Dave think it is important to go to the gym?

7. Why does Dave not date many women?

8. Describe Dave's father's funeral.

9. What does Dave think about as he holds ice to his mother's nose?

10. Why does Dave call a nurse rather than take his mother to the hospital?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the following options and discuss how illness affected that particular area in Eggers' life.

1) Work

2) Social life

3) Intimate relationships

4) Family

Essay Topic 2

Examine the fake obituaries Dave and his fellow editors run in the Might magazine.

1) What comment is the magazine trying to make by running fake obituaries?

2) Why do the fake obituaries backfire so badly?

3) How do the fake obituaries express the book's theme of death and how people react to it?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss with the students first person point of view. Why do the students think first person point of view is not necessarily reliable? What moments in the book do the students think are not so reliable and why? With the students, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using the first person point of view.

(see the answer keys)

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