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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. When does the narrator write he had to sweat out a fever in Mexico after the earthquake in Chapter 5?

2. What is Jack happy to find along the road in Chapter 3?

3. What does the narrator envy of Montesanto's?

4. Where was Jack Kerouac born and raised?

5. What poem has McLear recently written in Chapter 19?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jack describe as his feelings for the cabin in Chapter 6? To whom does he speak to of his feelings?

2. In what ways does Jack communicate or interact with the animals at Big Sur in Chapter 8?

3. What quotes of Emerson does Kerouac use in Chapter 7? What do these propel the narrator to do?

4. How do the protagonist's feelings of himself in Chapters 1 and 2 foreshadow that which occurs later in the novel?

5. How does the protagonist view the cliffs and his surroundings in Chapter 4?

6. What spurs Jack to believe he is not wanted at the cabin in Chapter 9?

7. What story does Jack relate in Chapter 6 of Hollywood? Why does the author relate this information?

8. How does Jack describe the nature surrounding him in Chapter 3?

9. What leads to the group going to the cabin in Chapter 17? Who goes?

10. What animal does Jack encounter in Chapter 4? How does he describe this and the landscape?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the value of things in Jack's mind. How did the Beatnik ideals differ from those in mainstream society during this era? What is more important: a sink scourer or a nice suit?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the literary allusions in the book. What poets, authors, and thinkers does the narrator read, quote from, and discuss? What do these lead the reader to understand?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss and describe the foreshadowing which Kerouac used in Big Sur. How overt is his use of foreshadowing? What are his intentions with this technique?

(see the answer keys)

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