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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 Phillip feel about his father before the man dies the following spring?

2. What did Holly imagine she would do when she leaves Cleveland and moves to New York fifteen years before?

3. How is George Carver regarded by the townspeople?

4. What are some of Mr. Carver's earliest remembered adventures?

5. What does Phillip realize about Holly?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 10, why does George Carver move the family to Nashville when Phillip is five years old? Where does the family live? How does he establish himself and his family in town?

2. While at Sunday supper with his family at Owl Mountain in Chapter 11, Phillip sees both Clara Price and Lewis Shackleford in the dining room. How does Phillip react to both of these important people?

3. In Chapter 7, what happens at the church? How does Mr. Carver react to the news? What does he say to Alex and Phillip?

4. In Chapter 11, Phillip allows Alex's car to remain in the driveway which blocks his father's car from exiting. What debate might be waging in his mind while he delays his father's departure?

5. In Chapter 12, Phillip begins calling his father on a weekly basis. Why are those calls important to Phillip?

6. In Chapter 10, how does Lewis Shackleford see his friend, George Carver? What traits does he admire in his friend?

7. In Chapter 7, Phillip compares the life he knows in his father's house in Memphis and his apartment in New York. How do the two residences differ? How does Phillip feel about the contents of his family home in Memphis and the contents of his apartment?

8. When Mr. Carver dies in Chapter 12, Holly's father also dies. The two of them return to New York after the funerals, and continue their lives together there. Phillip describes them both as "serenely free spirits." What has caused him to characterize himself and Holly in this way?

9. In Chapter 11, Phillip puts together the story of his family's intrusion into his father's love affair with Clara Price. What does he realize, and how?

10. During the drive from the church to Mr. Carver's home in Chapter 8, Phillip begins thinking of what his father might do next. What things does he think are possible? Why does he believe his father might do any of them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Phillip realizes his father did not consider how the move to Memphis would affect all members of the family. Was the move to Memphis the only thing to affect the Carvers? Was there another factor at play, one much more dramatic than the move, that actually changed the course of everyone's lives?

Essay Topic 2

In the beginning of the novel, Holly believes Phillip is obsessed with his family. As the novel continues, she changes her opinion. Phillip learns more about Holly's family, and it becomes evident that there is a strong similarity between Holly and Phillip. What is this mutual experience, and how does it better explain their relationship?

Essay Topic 3

In many novels, dialogue drives the action. In A Summons To Memphis, there is no dialogue in the traditional sense; the book is written in a narrative style. Why do you think the author has chosen to write in narrative style? Are there any characters in the book you would find easier to understand if you were to read his/her words as dialogue?

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