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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. Which of the following is noted as Amanda’s last name?

2. From which of the following groups does Renée hail?

3. Which of the following companies do the Chapmans own?

4. Who is noted to be the original residents of the building where Fife lives?

5. The comment that “It’s in English, but he has no understanding of the words. It’s as if they’re in Russian or Serbian” (76) offers an example of which of the following?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Vincent described as he is introduced?

2. Why does Fife tell Emma he has to confess to her in front of witnesses rather than in private?

3. What reasons does Fife give for appreciating the sounds of jet engines from inside the plane?

4. What question does Fife decide he will answer for Malcolm?

5. Who, per Fife, is Howard Levy, and why is he imprisoned?

6. What reasons does Emma give to try to persuade Fife that giving the interview is unwise?

7. What reasons does Fife give for being able to confess?

8. How does Fife describe Malcolm’s cinematic standing?

9. From what source do the Chapmans have money?

10. After what does Fife pattern his appearance while living with the Chapmans?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ultimately, is Fife a sympathetic protagonist or not? How does the novel present him as such?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the following passage:

But after these ten years away, it can’t be all that painful now, [Fife] assures himself. He’s no longer afraid of the shame that he once associated with the mere mention of the name of the place. He’s a different person now. People change. What harm can come to his new life by setting that town alongside it? Even if the town is altogether unchanged, which he doubts, it won’t threaten his hard-won balance and momentum. Not anymore. He’s a different person now. They are no longer in conflict, Fife and his hometown, Fife’s present and his shameful past (124).

Does the novel bear out the assertion of the passage? How or how not?

Essay Topic 3

Does the epigraph from Pessoa connect to the novel? If so, how so? If not, what purpose might it serve, and how might it serve it?

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