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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 idea does Grandma have for her and Thomas's relationship in My Feelings?

2. What request does Grandma make of her sister Anna in My Feelings?

3. What does the narrator of Why I'm Not Where You Are do with the notebook that has "ha ha ha!" in it?

4. Where is Oskar when Grandma finds him in My Feelings?

5. Which of the following is not a word that Oskar thinks would have been on his father's file card?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does married life become a series of negotiations for Grandma and Thomas Schell, Sr. in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

2. What cautionary story does Grandma's own grandmother tell in her letter in My Feelings?

3. How does Grandma know that Thomas is gone at the end of My Feelings?

4. What happens with Grandma on the evening of September 11, 2001?

5. Describe Oscar's interplay with Gerald Thompson in What The?

6. How does Grandma write her memoirs in Why I'm Not Where You Are?

7. What is A.R. Black's card system?

8. What surprise awaits Grandma the day of her son's funeral?

9. When does Grandma first see Thomas in Dresden?

10. Describe Thomas's decision to leave Grandma in Why I'm Not Where You Are.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jonathan Safran Foer creates a world not unlike our own in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. He includes real and recognizable locations and historical events surrounding his characters. Nevertheless, his world exists on a slightly different plane of reality, in which the fantastical and whimsical is possible. Write an essay about the fantastic in the novel, in three parts:

Part 1) Write a paragraph about the alternate history of New York City as related by Thomas Schell, Jr., on the night before he died. What augmentation does Dad make to the municipality of New York? How does the narrative end? What supposed proof does Dad offer Oskar by way of corroboration for his story?

Part 2) Discuss how Thomas Schell, Sr. is affected by his experience in Dresden after he arrives in the United States. What does he begin to lose over the course of several weeks? How does he adapt to this loss and how does this affect his life? What does this say about the lingering grief and guilt Thomas holds?

Part 3) Discuss A.R. Black's card catalog. What is he attempting to achieve by creating this catalog? How does it make the world more understandable to him? What patterns and trends has he discovered since beginning it?

Essay Topic 2

Oskar Schell is a fearful child, and his fears can fall into two camps that are real and imagined. Write an essay discussing these two types of fear and how they manifest themselves in the novel. For example, how do Dr. Fein and Jimmy represent a very real, concrete adversity to Oskar? What genuine concerns for his life do they present? Conversely, discuss the imagined dangers that haunt Oskar throughout the novel. From where do these fears derive and how do they affect his daily life?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the role that the past plays in defining the present in the novel. How is every major character in the novel a product of past that they may or may not know? To what extent are Grandma and Thomas Schell, Sr., the keepers of this history? Why do they choose not to explicate this history to the younger generations of the novel? In the end, how does the younger generation, as represented by Oskar, discover the reality of its roots through accidental contact with the older?

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