View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Dru stop trying to talk to Tom?

2. What does Dru tell Elisa?

3. Where is Diane at the beginning of Chapter 12?

4. Why does Elisa keep getting upset?

5. What does Mike tell her about what she has to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Elisa notice when Scooter leaves to get a drink, what does she tell Dru and what is Dru's response?

2. Who is Claire, what does Dru discuss with her and what does she ask Dru? What is Dru's response?

3. Where does Dru go running with her dog, who does she see and what does she hope about Elisa?

4. What is Diane wearing to the celebration, what does she proclaim Scooter and Elisa and with what does she present them?

5. What happens when Dru's family first arrives at Mike's house, how is the dinner and why does Janie irritate Dru?

6. Who picks Dru up at Elisa's and how does she get ready to go to the party?

7. How many stitches does Tom receive, what does Grant tell the doctor and why did Grant lie to the doctor? How does Diane react to Tom's jump?

8. Where has Dru and her family been invited, how does her mother react to the invitation and how does Dru feel about it?

9. What happens when and right after the twins jump?

10. What does Dru say to Elisa about Scooter and what does she realize about Diane when she says it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the following:

1. What is a plot? What are the most important elements of a plot and their definition? Do all novels have a plot? Why or why not?

2. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of "Jumping the Nail", identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement.) Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot?

3. Identify the major sub-plots and their elements in "Jumping the Nail". (The subplots may not contain every element of a major plot). Do the sub-plots add to the main plot? Why or why not. Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Dru is a bit guilty of catering to her boyfriend, just like Elisa. Mike is not controlling, but she will do certain things for him. She goes to the Spindrift, though she does not feel like it. She wears her hair the way he likes it. She looks longingly at her new clothes for Northwestern, a place that represents distance from Mike. In a subliminal way, Mike gets in her head. And she submits to what he wants.

1. Do you think it is positive or negative behavior to do certain things for another person even if you don't necessarily want to do them yourself? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Do you think there is a part of Dru who believes she is giving up too much of herself to date Mike? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Do you think the female in a relationship tends to give up more than the male? Why or why not? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Dru discusses the idea of feeling invisible. She feels this way until Mike and she start dating. This represents the universal teenage feeling of being invisible. It is a theme often seen in books about adolescence. For Dru, it is a real feeling and her encounter with Diane only exacerbates the feeling to a deeper level.

1. Discuss a time you or someone you know felt invisible. How did it compare to Dru's feelings? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss, in depth, why Dru's meeting with Diane might have made her feel more invisible or insecure. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Dating MIke is an external event which has made Dru feel, and possibly be, more acceptable to others in her school. Discuss some of the internal values Dru could strengthen within herself which could produce the same effect. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,284 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample