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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. What do Debbie and Patty promise their mothers when buying jeans?

2. What would Hector like to change about himself?

3. What did Lenny read for fun as a child?

4. How is Homer described?

5. What tool is Debbie trying to master in Chapter Eight?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of book is Debbie reading, and what does she think about the book and its relevance to her life?

2. What does Hector's first lesson involve and what disappoints him about that lesson?

3. Where does Rowanne take Hector, and what interests him there?

4. What has Hector began to do and what compromise with his parents is involved?

5. How do Debbie and Patty get their pants to look the way they want?

6. How does Debbie get sunburned, and who was she with when it happens?

7. What experience does Debbie get with mechanical work?

8. Why was Lenny's childhood not indicative of the path he appears to be taking?

9. What happens as Debbie is saying the final words of her wish?

10. Where is Lenny being steered in school, how does he manifest this in his life outside of school and what habit does he pick up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the following to discuss:

1. Choose two significant symbols and trace and analyze their appearance in "Criss Cross". Are these universal symbols? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other symbols that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Perkins chooses the symbols he does?

2. Choose two important metaphors and trace and analyze their appearance in the novel. Are these universal metaphors? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other metaphors that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Perkins chooses the metaphors she does?

3. Discuss Perkins's use (or lack ) of literary device (such as foreshadowing, cliffhangers, deux ex machina, etc.), and how they add or detract from the story. Does Perkins use too many or too little literary techniques? State which of the five major elements of fiction the literary device is related to (style, character, plot, setting, theme).

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of growth in "Criss Cross". Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with growth? Why? What are some symbols of growth? Symbols of rigidity? What characters seem rigid?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of knowing oneself in "Criss Cross". Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to possess courage? Why?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of parents and teenagers in "Criss Cross". Consider the silence between Debbie and her mother and Lenny and his father working together.

Essay Topic 3

Hector learns that girls, rather than bluntly stating their feelings, may sometimes develop schemes in order to avoid boys, as experienced through his excursion with Rowanne. He also begins to understand that girls his age are in a process of evolution, like the caterpillar to the butterfly, and that he, too, will be changing, although he does not see his change as exotic or as pleasing as the one for the girls he knows.

1. Do you think Hector's belief about girls is correct? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss, in depth, Hector's comparison of teens and caterpillars. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Why do you think Hector sees the changes that will occur in girls more pleasing than in himself, or probably in most boys? Do you think a heterosexual girl would feel the same way? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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