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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 is one reason April doesn't like her name (Valerie)?

2. Angry about being banned from using the hotel phone, where does April go to avoid Jim?

3. How does April's mother explain her husband's involvement with the FBI?

4. What is waiting for the Corrigans when they reach the airport in Florida?

5. On the Wednesday night at the Mayflower, Mrs. Corrigan gets a call from her husband. What does she tell April and Bram?

Short Essay Questions

1. After they arrive at the Mayflower, what restrictions does Jim put on the Corrigans?

2. After she is called to the counselor's office during her typing class, who does April see waiting for her? How does she react to this?

3. Who is waiting in the Corrigan house when April and her grandmother arrive home from school? Why is April uneasy about this?

4. Rita Green, the U.S. Marshal who is going to help the family with their relocation, suggests they go to California. Why is this idea discarded?

5. In Chapter 1, the narrator, April, tells the reader about her world. What does she tell us about her family?

6. After the family learns of what happened to Mr. Corrigan at the trial, Max tells them they must go into hiding. What is the reaction of each of the family members?

7. How does April react to the restrictions that Jim imposes on the Corrigans at the Mayflower?

8. The night after April overhears the phone conversation between Max and Jim, her father calls and talks to his wife. What does April's mother then tell April and Bram? Why is April so upset?

9. Lorelei has shown up at school and takes April home. Who is Lorelei and what does April tell the reader about her in Chapter 2?

10. A few days after April's anger at Jim, she starts to feel guilty about how she spoke to him. He suggests a truce -- and tells her she is acting dumb but she is not stupid. What is one reason April decided to apologize?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The concept of survival is important in Don't Look Behind You. Not only must the characters survive physically, they fight for the survival of their identity. Citing two specific examples, show how the following characters are fighting for their survival in one way or another:

(1) April;

(2) Mrs. Corrigan;

(3) Mr. Corrigan.

Essay Topic 2

Don't Look Behind You is a first person narrative, told from April's point-of-view. Briefly explain how the first peson narrative is effective and how it is limited. Give four specific examples that show how the novel is effective told from April's point-of-view, and how our vicarious experience is enhanced.

Essay Topic 3

A metaphor, in literature, is something that represents something else.

1) Show how the author uses tennis and/or a tennis racket as a metaphor for April's life up to the point of the Epilogue. Give four examples.

2) What does April say in the Epilogue so that the reader now knows that the tennis metaphor has been discarded and April's transition is complete?

(see the answer keys)

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