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 was Rick's first story about as a news reporter for the Anniston Star?

2. Why did the serial diner keep committing the same crime?

3. Why did Margaret hang Rick's awards on her walls?

4. What change was made at the NY Times in Rick's first article?

5. Why did Rick think that he had to take the city reporter's job?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the riot like that Rick experienced in Miami and how did it affect him?

2. Why didn't Rick remain married to his young bride?

3. What experiences did Rick have in Miami?

4. Why did Rick go home in the Spring of 1994, and what did he write about the whole experience?

5. What did Rick find on his second visit to Haiti?

6. How did Rick fare at Harvard?

7. Why did momma move out of the new house?

8. At Thanksgiving in the new house, what did Rick and Sam learn?

9. How did Mark's life affect momma and why?

10. What comparisons did Rick make between himself and his father? How did he feel about the comparisons?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the quote found on page 98: "But what really kills you on that other side are the people--the smiling, care-free people--who can just as easily look over into your side, and turn their face away." Explain it in terms of the memoir and the truism in life.

Essay Topic 2

According to Rick, what does true poverty do to a person's life from childhood to adulthood?

Essay Topic 3

Compare Rick and his brothers to an average American household. How were the boys the same as others? How were they different? Mention not only material items but how they thought about themselves and how others thought about them.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,135 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample