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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 the English classroom after the schoolyard fight, which is the only student prepared to discuss the material?

2. What does the narrator extol for creating mythology?

3. Who is the one person Kopydra yearns for more than any other?

4. What does the narrator think will happen to a novel in which the first word is heroic?

5. What is the name of the gang of boys Syphon puts together?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of writers does Joey find most annoying in the literary world?

2. Who is Doctor Filidor?

3. How does the principal of Joey's school feel about Pimko's psychological style?

4. How does Dr. Pimko react when he reads the writing Joey has completed after waking from his strange dream?

5. What reason does Joey give for his own personal struggle with immaturity?

6. How does the dual between Filidor and Momsen end?

7. How does the narrator claim a novel is truly read?

8. What community does the narrator claim is the stupidest community of all, and why?

9. How do the students in Joey's classroom treat their teachers?

10. Who is Kopydra?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At various places in the novel, the prose is broken up with chunks of poetry or quotes from other published authors. First, choose at least two of these quotes from the novel and explain their significance within the story. Then, explain what is accomplished in the novel overall by including these secondary texts. Do you think the goal is accomplished?

Essay Topic 2

Doctor Pimko is introduced at the opening of the novel as a much different doctor than he is at the end of the novel. First, describe the first scenes in which Pimko is introduced to the reader. How is he treating his patients? Then, compare that to the Doctor Pimko the reader sees at the end of the novel. Choose at least two scenes that you think best exemplify Doctor Pimko's change, and describe these scenes.

Essay Topic 3

Art, and writing in particular, is an theme central in the novel. What argument is the novel trying to make about structure. According to this book, what makes a good novel? What relationship should the author of the book have with its audience? How does the narrator of this novel feel about traditional form narration and how do you see that opinion reflected in the text? Choose at least two examples of scenes from the text that you believe best exemplify and strengthen your argument and describe those scenes in this essay.

(see the answer keys)

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