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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Merry able to explain Jainism to Swede without doing?
(a) Yelling.
(b) None of the answers is correct.
(c) Stuttering.
(d) Sneering.

2. Since what occurrence does the narrator say Dawn hasn't been motivated to do anything in regard to Merry?
(a) The bombing.
(b) Her pageant days.
(c) Merry's disappearance.
(d) Her parents' death.

3. Where does Swede recall knocking Bill flat when they were in high school?
(a) The hockey rink.
(b) The basketball court.
(c) The football field.
(d) The gym.

4. Who was a great friend with Dawn's father before he passed away?
(a) Swede.
(b) Nathan.
(c) Bill.
(d) Lou.

5. What did Lou often blame for Merry's bad behavior in addition to her mother?
(a) Her Judaism.
(b) Swede.
(c) Dawn.
(d) Her Catholic baptism.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many vows of renunciation does Merry say she has taken in the book?

2. What does the narrator say Swede's love for would disgust Merry?

3. What does Merry have a veil made of when Swede finds her in Chapter 5?

4. Who laughs at the end of Chapter 9 after Jessie stabs Lou with a fork?

5. Whose meetings were described as the American Pastoral par excellence?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Merry live as a Jain?

2. What does Swede ponder about when thinking of Rita stealing his money?

3. How is Swede's mother affected by Merry's disappearance in Chapter 7?

4. What is the nature of the letter Swede receives from Rita at the beginning of Chapter 5?

5. How does Swede describe Barry Umanoff and Marcia Schwartz's marriage?

6. How are Lou's feelings towards the Nixon administration described in the book?

7. How are Merry's values as a Jain described in the book?

8. Why did Dawn choose to raise cattle according to the narrator?

9. What does Lou say he is ashamed of Jerry for in Chapter 7?

10. What does Swede realize regarding Merry's mental health in Chapter 5?

(see the answer keys)

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