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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. Where did the civics teacher stand during the tests he gave?

2. Where does the author believe only truly free people are from?

3. During his childhood subway train rides to "the city," what told the author that he was on his last leg home?

4. What did the street always smell faintly of?

5. Did the author feel he could openly discuss his feelings about God?

Short Essay Questions

1. What time of day was the loneliest for the author's mother and why? What brought her out of her loneliness?

2. Who does the demolished part of the author's childhood neighborhood remind the author of and why was she so important to him?

3. How does the author describe his childhood perception of the distance between Brownsville and New York?

4. Why did the author have such a hard time when his mother, cousin and her friends started talking about "Heym?"

5. How has the author's childhood neighborhood not changed?

6. What was the best part of the author's school experience and why?

7. How did the author feel about his religion teachers and why?

8. How does the author describe the second street he remembers and what is it's name?

9. Which of the buildings in Brownsville that has been demolished holds the most fond memories for the author and why?

10. Who does the author feel is his advocate in religion? How does the author feel about God?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the second section, the author is given a nickname by his father. This nickname deeply affects the author. With specific examples from the text, please describe how it touched the author and how his view of his father changed at that point.

Essay Topic 2

What importance did the Soloveys hold for the author? They had a past and a relationship that was unique, what about those ideas was unique to them? What about Mrs. Solovey was so enticing for the author? What was his made-up name for her and what character from a book did he associate her with? What about Mr. Solovey was important to the author? What connection did they have?

Essay Topic 3

In what ways did the author choose to escape his daily life? Why did the author feel he needed to escape and why is he "walking" through a time when he felt the need to escape? What is he trying to escape from that he wrote the memoir/

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This section contains 859 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample