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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 year did Dru's mother meet Dru's father?

2. How is Dru perceived by the other teenagers?

3. On what occasion did Dru's mother first see her father?

4. What did Mike's father do when Dru's mother was married?

5. What does Scooter say jumping off the Nail does?

Short Essay Questions

1. Whose house does Dru pass and what does she think when she passes it?

2. What does Jeremy say to Dru when she sees him?

3. Where do Dru and Mike go at the beginning of Chapter Two, what is it like there, who else is there, and what does Dru hope?

4. What has Dru just finished, and what is she thinking about as she walks her dog looking at houses?

5. What does Scooter ask Mike and Dru to do, why does he ask them and what does Dru think of Scooter jumping?

6. Who does Dru run into while walking her dog and what does the person ask her and say to her?

7. What happens when Dru shows Elisa the mangled boot?

8. How is Elisa awoken after Dru had put her to bed and what does she do about Scooter's invitation? How does Dru react?

9. What is it like at the Nail right before Elisa and Scooter jump, what does Lizzie say and what does Mike do with Dru?

10. What do Scooter and Elisa bring to the Nail with them, how is Scooter feeling, how does Elisa react to Dru and what does Scooter go do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oftentimes, a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and sometimes it is the other way around. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not.

5. What type of plot do you think "Jumping the Nail" is? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 2

The boot symbolizes an omen. It is shredded and floats atop the water eerily. It is black, the color of mourning or death, showing that something ominous had occurred when Elisa was in the water. Even Elisa's foot is red and blotchy. Elisa cannot talk. All of this foreshadows that Elisa lost a part of herself underwater, or in other words, experienced a death of her true self.

1. What is an omen? Do you think it is the same as foreshadow? Discuss what you thought when you read of the boot and what significance you thought it might have. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss the symbolism of the boot in Elisa's life and, in some small degree, in all the teenagers who have conjugated at the Nail. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Do you think Elisa lost a part of her true self underwater or do you think she has been losing that since she started to date Scooter? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

Trace and analyze the theme of teenagers feeling invisible throughout "Jumping the Nail".

Trace and analyze the theme of peer pressure throughout "Jumping the Nail".

Trace and analyze the theme of control and power in a relationship throughout "Jumping the Nail".

(see the answer keys)

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