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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. According to Blue, all of the following are given by heaven except:

2. How does Blue pay rent in Chapter V?

3. At the end of Chapter VI, what subway entrance do Blue and the narrator stop outside of?

4. How long does it take the narrator to get to the hospital to see Blue?

5. After the narrator leaves the hospital, who comes to visit Blue?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what letter does Blue describe his view of the end of the world?

2. What does the narrator learn from Blue in their walk around the lake about American Catholicism?

3. Who are the "Spies of God?"

4. How does Blue feel about scientific agnosticism?

5. What values of Blue's do the eighth, ninth and tenth letters defend?

6. What is the narrator's vocation?

7. What is the first letter about and what does it say about Blue?

8. What is the narrator's response to Blue's death?

9. What job does Blue take in Chapter VII?

10. How is Blue treated by his coworkers at the lumberyard?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Blue's story in Chapter III, all Christians had been exterminated. The world ends when White performs Mass and God destroys the world and makes it anew. Analyze Blue's philosophy of religion as revealed in the story in Chapter III.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze how the narrator first met Mr. Blue and the early relationship between the two men. Why did Blue first approach Stevens? Describe what happened when the narrator and Blue were first alone together? Why do you think the narrator was so intrigued with Blue? During their first meeting on the skyscraper, Blue launches into a diatribe on his religious views. Is this a common topic among two people who are just meeting?

Essay Topic 3

Chapter VI ends with Blue giving the narrator a card that reads "The cross is the gift God gives his friends." Analyze this card, where it came from and what meaning it has for Blue and the narrator.

(see the answer keys)

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