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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 Bill tell Brita he has quit?

2. What does Brita say she has an intuition about?

3. In which country is the young man being held hostage?

4. Why does Charlie recognize the jacket Bill is wearing?

5. What does Scott needle Bill about?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Karen watching on television?

2. What does Maureen joke that is the only reason there are so few American faces?

3. Why does Scott say that he tells Bill what he does?

4. What does Charlie remember fondly about the fifties?

5. What has happened to Bill in Chapter Eight?

6. What does Bill say binds terrorists and writers?

7. What does Bill imagine about Brita's life?

8. How does Charlie try to get Bill to help him?

9. How does Charlie say he is dealing with his current crop of moaning writers?

10. How does Charlie want Bill to help him with the hostage in Beirut?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main themes of the story. In what way are these themes relevant to the period? How does the author use character and setting to express these themes?

Essay Topic 2

What is Charlie's role in the novel? How would the novel change if he was not one of the characters? How does he wake Bill up to other matters in life? In what way is he the only character that could have done this?

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following characters in the novel and discuss how their character changes through the story.

1. Karen

2. Bill

3. Scott

4. Brita

(see the answer keys)

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