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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. How does Ambrose end up with a sore toe in the funhouse?

2. What does Ambrose think sounds like bees droning?

3. What does the narrator say is an image an author might use when writing a story about Ocean City during World War II?

4. What does Ambrose imagine doing with his family years after he is lost in the funhouse?

5. How does Ambrose see an old man who reminds him of his grandfather?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the truth about Magda’s question that Ambrose does not tell her?

2. Why does Magda win the traditional game in the car, and what does Ambrose’s mother say about her win?

3. Why doesn’t Ambrose ask the person he sees how to get out of the Funhouse, and what happens when Ambrose realizes he is lost?

4. What does Ambrose see in his imagination about married life?

5. How are the teenagers able to get into the Funhouse?

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

7. Why does Ambrose think people don’t know what to make of him?

8. Why do the teenagers return to the Funhouse when their money runs out?

9. What advertises the funhouse that the family stares at, and what does Peter suggests when they are looking at it? What does Ambrose suggest?

10. What is one reason the narrator says exists for not writing a lost-in-the-fun-house story?

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

One of the key elements in any funhouse is the hall of mirrors where visitors see images of themselves in strange and unfamiliar shapes.

Discuss the ways in which Ambrose becomes even more aware of himself when he is in the mirror room of the funhouse. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven or action driven? Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why? Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character are developed to the same degree? Why or why not? What type of plot do you think Lost in the Funhouse is? Explain your response.

(see the answer keys)

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