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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 does Ambrose imagine a woman saying to him when he is grown about his words?

2. From what point of view does Ambrose narrate the story of his life to himself?

3. What church does Ambrose try to join when he finds out he is not baptized?

4. What scares Ambrose about playing the game Niggers and Masters with Magda without Peter?

5. What does Ambrose do after he pushes his glasses up on his nose while the family is driving?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Ambrose go after dinner? What is he looking for and what does he see?

2. What is Ambrose’s father doing while Ambrose is in the Funhouse?

3. When thoroughly lost, what does Ambrose imagine happens to him in the Funhouse?

4. What is done in Ocean City because of U-boats and how is it done?

5. What are Peter and Magda doing while Ambrose is in the Funhouse?

6. What does Ambrose do because he is so nervous about going in the Funhouse with Magda and what does the ticket woman say to Magda?

7. What does Magda win during 'Looking for the Towers', and what does she do with her prize?

8. Who does Ambrose think will overhear him telling stories while lost in the Funhouse?

9. What gives Ambrose hope that he will find the exit to the Funhouse?

10. What do Peter and Uncle Karl try at the pool, and how does Ambrose’s mother react to their behavior? How is Ambrose involved in the situation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Ambrose is below the boardwalk he hears his family laughing above him. The narrator comments that if Ambrose was not old enough or smart enough to understand the joke he could have said: “The laughter was over his head.” Discuss what the author is attempting to do by including this commentary by the narrator about wordplay.

Essay Topic 2

During the car ride Ambrose remembers a time when, three years previously, Peter, Magda and himself played Niggers and Masters.

Discuss how the game relates to the era and place in which this story takes place. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Ambrose and his narrator alter ego are both marked by their exceptionally keen awareness of self.

Discuss the ways in which Ambrose demonstrates an awareness of himself. Questions to consider might be: How does he perceive himself? How does he see himself in relationship to others? How does he think others see him? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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