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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. In Why I'm Not Where You Are, Thomas admits to Grandma that during their absence he had sex with whom?
2. Why is Oskar nervous about meeting Ruth Black?
3. What is Thomas Schell order to do at the zoo in Why I'm Not Where You Are?
4. On what floor of the Empire State Building did a plane crash in 1945?
5. What natural occurrence does Ruth Black talk about in Alive and Alone?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does Stephen Hawking say to Oskar in A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem?
2. Describe Thomas's experience during the bombing of Dresden.
3. How does Oskar overcome a phobia in Alive and Alone?
4. What major item movement happens between the sixth borough and and Manhattan as it drifts off?
5. What is the living arrangement between Grandma and Thomas in Why I'm Not Where You Are?
6. What does Oskar tell Thomas, Sr. over the course of Alive and Alone?
7. What is revealed by the long jump at the beginning of The Sixth Borough?
8. What can Thomas not bring himself to tell Grandma at the end of Why I'm Not Where You Are?
9. How does Thomas, Sr. discover he has a son in Why I'm Not where You Are?
10. In A Simple Solution to an Impossible Problem, what does William Black reveal is the purpose of the key?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Oskar Schell is a complex character, one that embodies both manic gregariousness and deep and unrelenting personal anguish. Write an essay about how those two facets of Oskar's personality in three parts:
Part 1) How would you describe Oskar's outward personality in the everyday world? Write a paragraph analyzing his relationship with those around him, focusing on his school life, his family life, and the way he interacts with the various Blacks he tracks down over the course of the novel.
Part 2) What does Oskar do in the privacy of his bedroom that indicates he is hiding some deep and unhealed pain in the wake of his father's death? How does this pain explode in a confrontation with his mother midway through the novel? What anger is he harboring toward her?
Part 3) Discuss the moment Oskar has with the limo driver, Gerald Thompson, on his way to his father's burial. How does the presentation of this interaction from both Oskar and Grandma's point of view reveal what is happening below the surface? How is Oskar's gregariousness a mask for his innate pain?
Essay Topic 2
Write an essay discussing the notion that Oscar Schell is a child and a man simultaneously. How does his interaction with family, classmates and strangers reflect a style of speech and intellectual curiosity beyond his years? To whom does he write letters and why? In the second part of the essay, discuss how Oskar psychologically has been forced to mature in his fears, anxieties, and needs before his time. Why has he been left at a mid-point between childhood and adulthood?
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay about the marriage between Grandma and Thomas Schell, Sr. How do they find their way into each other's lives and to what extent does the tragedy of Dresden's demise play a central role in bringing them together? Chart the progression of their relationship in America form reconnection to courtship and through their marriage. How does the development of rules lead to the eventual end of their marriage? What happens when he returns to her?
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This section contains 1,218 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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